Reflections

In one of his books, the author Henry Berg makes the observation that there is something profoundly strange about mirrors.

How is it that a surface made up of atoms can perfectly reflect photons that are many times smaller than even an electron?

From the perspective of a photon, an atom is like a mountain. The surface of a mirror is anything but flat. Yet, all photons striking the mirror will leave at an equal and opposite angle, with no energy lost.

The answer to this riddle, using the physics laid out in this book, is that the photons never strike the mirror. The pilot wave that accompanies every photon acts like a cushion, and it is off of this cushion that the photon bounces.

Photon with pilot wave striking a reflective surface of atoms

While photons are tiny, the pilot waves surrounding photons are big relative to atoms. They can easily even out a tolerably smooth surface without upsetting the photon side of the wave. Each photon sees a perfectly smooth cushion. It bounces off of this cushion, completely unaware of any minor irregularity in the surface of the mirror.

Mirrors can in other words be used as supporting evidence for the existence of pilot waves.