Most leptons can do this so I'm curious to see if photons or any bosons at all can.
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5related: Why do tunneling photons outrace their non tunneling counterparts in vacuum? and Quantum barrier for photons – AccidentalFourierTransform Feb 13 '16 at 14:22
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4"Tunneling" is not an "ability" that a particle has or has not. It is an intrinsic feature of quantum mechanics. – ACuriousMind Feb 13 '16 at 14:39
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In optics, you have a glass medium ( the barrier ) in a vacuum medium and photons may tunnel – Feb 13 '16 at 15:54
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Yes they can, the classical analog would be called "frustrated total internal reflection." Imagine that the light/photons are propagating in a linear homogeneous medium with an index of refraction n>1, then let the light be incident upon an interface between this material and air at an angle such that "total internal reflection occurs." The angle for this can be computed using Snell's law and setting (n Sin(angle) = Sin(angle2)) --> So, for a given n>1 there exists an angle such that angle is imaginary. At this angle, and beyond, the field is non-propagating in the air medium, but if you put another material (with n>1) close enough, without touching, you the light/photons can tunnel and becoming propagating modes in the other medium.
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