[FRIAM] "I have no idea what's going on." -- Towelie

[Marcus Daniels]

Glen writes:

<   An additional basic question would be whether or not there are "lateral states of different kind" (that's my own nonsense phrase). I.e. maybe an atom can be in an energy state X that is (reductively) the same energy level as another state Y, but with or without the ability to move from state X to state Y without going up or down in energy level? >

Quantum tunneling enables moving between such states (without kinetic energy).   The probability of a configuration comes from the energy of the configuration, not the details of the configuration.   Even a ground state doesn't have to be a unique configuration.    There's also the notion of superposition states that aren't even definite states, but nonetheless can be characterized by their energy (and probability).   

Marcus