"Every child knows that the amplitude for transmission obeys the WKB formula,

|T(E)|=exp{-1/\hbar \int_{x_1}^{x_2}dx[2(V-E)]^{1/2}}[1+O(\hbar}]   (...)"

...really?


"(...)Icannot give their proof here because I do not understandit.Nevertheless,mathematicians I trust say that their argument is not only legitimatebut brilliant, so let us assume they are right andcontinue."

...yes,you must say only what you understand. But,then, how little can I say.(sigh) Well, still, I can assume the physicists I trust are right andcontinue :$


"(...) The fact that the Abelian Higgs model intwo dimensions does not display theHiggs phenomenon was discoveredindependently by two of my graduate students, Frank De Luccia and PaulSteinhardt. They did not write up their results because I did notbelieve them. I take this occasion to apologize to them for mystupidity"

...oh, my. Now I believethat he indeed had lived insuch a different world as mine where everychild knows WKB, and thegraduate students discover what I, a senior graduate student by now(sigh again), haven't even thought about. (and am struggling tounderstand.) Well, one somewhat relieving fact is that Steinhardtbecame really famous after all.