Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:quant-ph/0207121 · Physical Review A

Universally valid reformulation of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle on noise and disturbance in measurement

Masanao Ozawa

Published Apr 11, 2003• 424 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.67.042105

Related papers

Universal uncertainty principle in the measurement operator formalism

Masanao Ozawa

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle has been understood to set a limitation on measurements; however, the long-standing mathematical formulation established by Heisenberg, Kennard, and Robertson does not allow such an interpretation. Recently, a new relation was found 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 in a unified treatment. This paper examines the above development on the noise–disturbance uncertainty principle in the model-independent approach based on the measurement operator formalism, which is widely accepted to describe a class of generalized measurements in the field of quantum information. We obtain explicit formulae for the noise and disturbance of measurements given by measurement operators, and show that projective measurements do not satisfy the Heisenberg-type noise–disturbance relation that is typical in the gamma-ray microscope thought experiments. We also show that the disturbance on a Pauli operator of a projective measurement of another Pauli operator constantly equals , and examine how this measurement violates the Heisenberg-type relation but satisfies the new noise–disturbance relation.

arXiv:quant-ph/0510083•Journal of Optics B Quantum and Semiclassical Optics•Nov 22, 2005•47 citations

Position measuring interactions and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle

Masanao Ozawa

A prevailing formulation of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle is re-examined that measuring position with noise $\\epsilon$ brings the momentum disturbance no less than $\\hbar/2\\epsilon$. 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.

•Jun 30, 2001•36 citations

Universal Uncertainty Principle in Measurement Operator Formalism

Ozawa, M

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle has been understood to set a limitation on measurements; however, the long standing mathematical formulation established by Heisenberg, Kennard, and Robertson does not allow such an interpretation. Recently, a new relation was found 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 in a unified treatment. This paper examines the above development on the noise-disturbance uncertainty principle in the model independent approach based on measurement operator formalism, which is widely accepted to describe a class of generalized measurements in the field of quantum information. We obtain explicit formulas for noise and disturbance of measurements given by measurement operators, and show that projective measurements do not satisfy the Heisenberg-type noise-disturbance relation that is typical in the gamma-ray microscope thought experiments. We also show that the disturbance on a Pauli operator of a projective measurement of another Pauli operator constantly equals to the square root of 2, and examine how this measurement violates the Heisenberg-type relation but satisfies the new noise-disturbance relation.

•Oct 12, 2005•30 citations

Heisenberg's uncertainty relation: Violation and reformulation

Masanao Ozawa

The uncertainty relation formulated by Heisenberg in 1927 describes a trade-off between the error of a measurement of one observable and the disturbance caused on another complementary observable so that their product should be no less than a limit set by Planck's constant. In 1980, Braginsky, Vorontsov, and Thorne claimed that this relation leads to a sensitivity limit for gravitational wave detectors. However, in 1988 a model of position measurement was constructed that breaks both this limit and Heisenberg's relation. Here, we discuss the problems as to how we reformulate Heisenberg's relation to be universally valid and how we experimentally quantify the error and the disturbance to refute the old relation and to confirm the new relation.

arXiv:1402.5601•Journal of Physics Conference Series•Apr 14, 2014•12 citations

Experimental violation and reformulation of the Heisenberg's error-disturbance uncertainty relation

So-Young Baek, Fumihiro Kaneda, Masanao Ozawa +1 more

The uncertainty principle formulated by Heisenberg in 1927 describes a trade-off between the error of a measurement of one observable and the disturbance caused on another complementary observable such that their product should be no less than the limit set by Planck's constant. However, Ozawa in 1988 showed a model of position measurement that breaks Heisenberg's relation and in 2003 revealed an alternative relation for error and disturbance to be proven universally valid. Here, we report an experimental test of Ozawa's relation for a single-photon polarization qubit, exploiting a more general class of quantum measurements than the class of projective measurements. The test is carried out by linear optical devices and realizes an indirect measurement model that breaks Heisenberg's relation throughout the range of our experimental parameter and yet validates Ozawa's relation.

Scientific Reports•Jul 17, 2013•96 citations

Quantum Measurements, Instruments, and Uncertainty Principle

Masanao Ozawa

The Heisenberg uncertainty relation for measurement noise and disturbance states that any position measurement with noise ε brings the momentum disturbance not less than hbar⁄2ε. However, this relation holds only for restricted class of measurements. Here, we discuss universally valid uncertainty relations for measurement noise and disturbance, which hold for all the possible quantum measurements.

Interdisciplinary Information Sciences•Jan 1, 2004•1 citation
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\ensuremath{\Elzxh}/2\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.
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle has been understood to set a limitation on measurements; however, the long-standing mathematical formulation established by Heisenberg, Kennard, and Robertson does not allow such an interpretation. Recently, a new relation was found 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 in a unified treatment. This paper examines the above development on the noise–disturbance uncertainty principle in the model-independent approach based on the measurement operator formalism, which is widely accepted to describe a class of generalized measurements in the field of quantum information. We obtain explicit formulae for the noise and disturbance of measurements given by measurement operators, and show that projective measurements do not satisfy the Heisenberg-type noise–disturbance relation that is typical in the gamma-ray microscope thought experiments. We also show that the disturbance on a Pauli operator of a projective measurement of another Pauli operator constantly equals , and examine how this measurement violates the Heisenberg-type relation but satisfies the new noise–disturbance relation.
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; however, the long standing mathematical formulation established by Heisenberg, Kennard, and Robertson does not allow such an interpretation. Recently, a new relation was found 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 in a unified treatment. This paper examines the above development on the noise-disturbance uncertainty principle in the model independent approach based on measurement operator formalism, which is widely accepted to describe a class of generalized measurements in the field of quantum information. We obtain explicit formulas for noise and disturbance of measurements given by measurement operators, and show that projective measurements do not satisfy the Heisenberg-type noise-disturbance relation that is typical in the gamma-ray microscope thought experiments. We also show that the disturbance on a Pauli operator of a projective measurement of another Pauli operator constantly equals to the square root of 2, and examine how this measurement violates the Heisenberg-type relation but satisfies the new noise-disturbance relation.
The uncertainty relation formulated by Heisenberg in 1927 describes a trade-off between the error of a measurement of one observable and the disturbance caused on another complementary observable so that their product should be no less than a limit set by Planck's constant. In 1980, Braginsky, Vorontsov, and Thorne claimed that this relation leads to a sensitivity limit for gravitational wave detectors. However, in 1988 a model of position measurement was constructed that breaks both this limit and Heisenberg's relation. Here, we discuss the problems as to how we reformulate Heisenberg's relation to be universally valid and how we experimentally quantify the error and the disturbance to refute the old relation and to confirm the new relation.
The uncertainty principle formulated by Heisenberg in 1927 describes a trade-off between the error of a measurement of one observable and the disturbance caused on another complementary observable such that their product should be no less than the limit set by Planck's constant. However, Ozawa in 1988 showed a model of position measurement that breaks Heisenberg's relation and in 2003 revealed an alternative relation for error and disturbance to be proven universally valid. Here, we report an experimental test of Ozawa's relation for a single-photon polarization qubit, exploiting a more general class of quantum measurements than the class of projective measurements. The test is carried out by linear optical devices and realizes an indirect measurement model that breaks Heisenberg's relation throughout the range of our experimental parameter and yet validates Ozawa's relation.