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arXiv:1212.2815 · Physical Review Letters

Correlations between Detectors Allow Violation of the Heisenberg Noise-Disturbance Principle for Position and Momentum Measurements

Antonio Di Lorenzo

Published Mar 20, 2013• 20 citations
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Abstract

Heisenberg formulated a noise-disturbance principle stating that there is a tradeoff between noise and disturbance when a measurement of position and a measurement of momentum are performed sequentially, and another principle imposing a limitation on the product of the uncertainties in a joint measurement of position and momentum. We prove that the former, the Heisenberg sequential noise-disturbance principle, holds when the detectors are assumed to be initially uncorrelated from each other, but that it can be violated for some properly correlated initial preparations of the detectors.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.110.120403

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Heisenberg formulated a noise-disturbance principle stating that there is a tradeoff between noise and disturbance when a measurement of position and a measurement of momentum are performed sequentially, and another principle imposing a limitation on the product of the uncertainties in a joint measurement of position and momentum. We prove that the former, the Heisenberg sequential noise-disturbance principle, holds when the detectors are assumed to be initially uncorrelated from each other, but that it can be violated for some properly correlated initial preparations of the detectors.
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that the product of the noise in a position measurement and the momentum disturbance caused by that measurement should be no less than the limit set by Planck's constant $\ensuremath{\Elzxh}/2$ as demonstrated by Heisenberg's thought experiment using a \ensuremath{\gamma}-ray microscope. Here it is shown that this common assumption is not universally true: a universally valid trade-off relation between the noise and the disturbance has an additional correlation term, which is redundant when the intervention brought by the measurement is independent of the measured object, but which allows the noise-disturbance product much below Planck's constant when the intervention is dependent. A model of measuring interaction with dependent intervention shows that Heisenberg's lower bound for the noise-disturbance product is violated even by a nearly nondisturbing precise position measurement. An experimental implementation is also proposed to realize the above model in the context of optical quadrature measurement with currently available linear optical devices.
Physics textbooks introduce an inequality derived by Kennard that concerns the impossibility of preparing a quantum state with well defined momentum and position. However, Heisenberg had formulated two different inequalities: one stating the impossibility of a simultaneous detection of position and momentum with arbitrary precision, and another one imposing a tradeoff between the precision on the measurement of a variable and the backaction on a subsequent measurement of a conjugated variable. Here, we explore the connections among these three inequalities, and we show that the latter can be violated, if the detectors are initially entangled. The results, besides being of fundamental interest, can be useful for building up an ideal momentum, or position, detector (i.e. one that introduces no noise in the measurement, besides the intrinsic statistical noise of the input state).
A prevailing formulation of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle is re-examined that measuring position with noise epsilon\\epsilonepsilon brings the momentum disturbance no less than hbar/2epsilon\\hbar/2\\epsilonhbar/2epsilon. With rigorous formulations of noise and disturbance, a model of a measuring interaction demonstrates that this formulation of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle is by no means universally valid. An experimental realization of the model is also suggested.
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle has been understood to set a limitation on measurements, whereas the long standing mathematical formulation does not allow such an interpretation. Recently, a new relation was found by the present author to give a universally valid relation between noise and disturbance in general quantum measurements, and it has become clear that the new relation plays a role of the first principle to derive various quantum limits on measurement and information processing. Here, we discuss the state-dependent notion of precise measurements of a given observable, and consider a perfect distance such that zero distance implies the perfect correlation. Then, we shall show that even in the perfect error notions both the position measuring noise and the momentum disturbance can be arbitrarily small. We also show that it is possible to generalize the new noise-disturbance uncertainty relation to perfect error distances.
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is usually taken to express a limitation of operational possibilities imposed by quantum mechanics.Here we demonstrate that the full content of this principle also includes its positive role as a condition ensuring that mutually exclusive experimental options can be reconciled if an appropriate trade-off is accepted.The uncertainty principle is shown to appear in three manifestations, in the form of uncertainty relations: for the widths of the position and momentum distributions in any quantum state; for the inaccuracies of any joint measurement of these quantities; and for the inaccuracy of a measurement of one of the quantities and the ensuing disturbance in the distribution of the other quantity.Whilst conceptually distinct, these three kinds of uncertainty relations are shown to be closely related formally.Finally, we survey models and experimental implementations of joint measurements of position and momentum and comment briefly on the status of experimental tests of the uncertainty principle.