Why does wormhole work?

Could you please elaborate on the underlying principles of how wormhole functions? I'm particularly interested in understanding its technical architecture and the mechanisms that enable it to operate effectively. Could you explain the role of cryptography in its operations and how it ensures secure transactions? Additionally, I'm curious about the scalability aspect of wormhole and how it manages to handle a large number of transactions efficiently. Would you also discuss its interoperability features and how it facilitates cross-chain communication? Thank you for your insights.