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arXiv:quant-ph/0209162 · Physical Review A

Uncertainty characteristics of generalized quantum measurements

Holger Friedrich Hofmann

Published Feb 13, 2003• 18 citations
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Abstract

The effects of any quantum measurement can be described by a collection of measurement operators ${{M}_{m}}$ acting on the quantum state of the measured system. However, the Hilbert space formalism tends to obscure the relationship between the measurement results and the physical properties of the measured system. In this paper, a characterization of measurement operators in terms of measurement resolution and disturbance is developed. It is then possible to formulate uncertainty relations for the measurement process that are valid for arbitrary input states. The motivation of these concepts is explained from a quantum communication viewpoint. It is shown that the intuitive interpretation of uncertainty as a relation between measurement resolution and disturbance provides a valid description of measurement back action. Possible applications to quantum cryptography, quantum cloning, and teleportation are discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.67.022106

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The effects of any quantum measurement can be described by a collection of measurement operators Mm{{M}_{m}}Mm​ acting on the quantum state of the measured system. However, the Hilbert space formalism tends to obscure the relationship between the measurement results and the physical properties of the measured system. In this paper, a characterization of measurement operators in terms of measurement resolution and disturbance is developed. It is then possible to formulate uncertainty relations for the measurement process that are valid for arbitrary input states. The motivation of these concepts is explained from a quantum communication viewpoint. It is shown that the intuitive interpretation of uncertainty as a relation between measurement resolution and disturbance provides a valid description of measurement back action. Possible applications to quantum cryptography, quantum cloning, and teleportation are discussed.
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.
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.
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.
The Heisenberg uncertainty relation for measurement noise and disturbance states that any position measurement with noise /spl epsiv/ brings the momentum disturbance not less than h/2/spl epsiv/. However, this relation holds only for restricted class of measurements. Here, a generalized uncertainty relation for measurement noise and disturbance is formalized and proven, which holds for all the possible quantum measurements. For this purpose, all the possible quantum measurements are characterized by naturally acceptable axioms. The measurement noise and disturbance are defined rigorously for any such general quantum measurements.
The notions of error and disturbance appearing in quantum uncertainty relations are often quantified by the discrepancy of a physical quantity from its ideal value. However, these real and ideal values are not the outcomes of simultaneous measurements, and comparing the values of unmeasured observables is not necessarily meaningful according to quantum theory. To overcome these conceptual difficulties, we take a different approach and define error and disturbance in an operational manner. In particular, we formulate both in terms of the probability that one can successfully distinguish the actual measurement device from the relevant hypothetical ideal by any experimental test whatsoever. This definition itself does not rely on the formalism of quantum theory, avoiding many of the conceptual difficulties of usual definitions. We then derive new Heisenberg-type uncertainty relations for both joint measurability and the error-disturbance tradeoff for arbitrary observables of finite-dimensional systems, as well as for the case of position and momentum. Our relations may be directly applied in information processing settings, for example to infer that devices which can faithfully transmit information regarding one observable do not leak any information about conjugate observables to the environment. We also show that Englert's wave-particle duality relation [PRL 77, 2154 (1996)] can be viewed as an error-disturbance uncertainty relation.
The notions of error and disturbance appearing in quantum uncertainty relations are often quantified by the discrepancy of a physical quantity from its ideal value. However, these real and ideal values are not the outcomes of simultaneous measurements, and comparing the values of unmeasured observables is not necessarily meaningful according to quantum theory. To overcome these conceptual difficulties, we take a different approach and define error and disturbance in an operational manner. In particular, we formulate both in terms of the probability that one can successfully distinguish the actual measurement device from the relevant hypothetical ideal by any experimental test whatsoever. This definition itself does not rely on the formalism of quantum theory, avoiding many of the conceptual difficulties of usual definitions. We then derive new Heisenberg-type uncertainty relations for both joint measurability and the error-disturbance tradeoff for arbitrary observables of finite-dimensional systems, as well as for the case of position and momentum. Our relations may be directly applied in information processing settings, for example to infer that devices which can faithfully transmit information regarding one observable do not leak any information about conjugate observables to the environment. We also show that Englert's wave-particle duality relation [PRL 77, 2154 (1996)] can be viewed as an error-disturbance uncertainty relation.