The Physics behind Quantum Measurements

Pierre Jasselette

Luc Longpré, Olga M. Kosheleva, Владик Крейнович

Applications of interval computations usually assume that while we only know an interval containing the actual (unknown) value of a physical quantity, there is the exact value of this quantity, and that in principle, we can get more and more accurate estimates of this value. Physicists know, however, that, due to uncertainty principle, there are limitations on how accurately we can measure the values of physical quantities. One of the important principles of modern physics is operationalism -- that a physical theory should only use observable properties. This principle is behind most successes of the 20th century physics, starting with relativity theory (vs. un-observable aether) and quantum mechanics. From this viewpoint, it is desirable to avoid using un-measurable exact values and to modify the mathematical formalisms behind physical theories so that they explicitly only take objective uncertainty into account. In this paper, we describe how this can be done for objective interval uncertainty.

Leonardo Vanni, Roberto Laura

Craig Kyrle Strachan Davidson

This paper details a new approach to measuring light without destroying it. Normally, measuring a quantum particle directly forces it to freeze or change. This method changes that ruleset by looking at the surrounding space instead. When light moves through matter, it leaves behind a tiny physical ripple—an environmental bow wave. By tracking these subtle disturbances over a few picoseconds, we can reconstruct exactly where the light came from and what it passed through on its journey. This paper introduces the core physics behind this phenomenon, sets the absolute limits for catching this data, and outlines how distributed sensors can map these paths before the information dissolves into random noise.

W. E. Lawrence

Karsten Held, Norbert J. Mauser