Heisenbergs uncertainty principle is quantified by error-disturbance tradeoff relations, which have been tested experimentally in various scenarios. Here we shall report improved n
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 Englerts wave-particle duality relation [PRL 77, 2154 (1996)] can be viewed as an error-disturbance uncertainty relation.
In quantum physics, measurement error and disturbance were first naively thought to be simply constrained by the Heisenberg uncertainty relation. Later, more rigorous analysis showed that the error and disturbance satisfy more subtle inequalities. Sever
We formulate a new error-disturbance relation, which is free from explicit dependence upon variances in observables. This error-disturbance relation shows improvement over the one provided by the Branciard inequality and the Ozawa inequality for some initial states and for particular class of joint measurements under consideration. We also prove a modified form of Ozawas error-disturbance relation. The later relation provides a tighter bound compared to the Ozawa and the Branciard inequalities for a small number of states.
The uncertainty principle states that a measurement inevitably disturbs the system, while it is often supposed that a quantum system is not disturbed without state change. Korzekwa, Jennings, and Rudolph [Phys. Rev. A 89, 052108 (2014)] pointed out a conflict between those two views, and concluded that state-dependent formulations of error-disturbance relations are untenable. Here, we reconcile the conflict by showing that a quantum system is disturbed without state change, in favor of the recently obtained universally valid state-dependent error-disturbance relations.
While the slogan no measurement without disturbance has established itself under the name Heisenberg effect in the consciousness of the scientifically interested public, a precise statement of this fundamental feature of the quantum world has remained elusive, and serious attempts at rigorous formulations of it as a consequence of quantum theory have led to seemingly conflicting preliminary results. Here we show that despite recent claims to the contrary [Rozema et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 100404 (2012)], Heisenberg-type inequalities can be proven that describe a trade-off between the precision of a position measurement and the necessary resulting disturbance of momentum (and vice versa). More generally, these inequalities are instances of an uncertainty relation for the imprecisions of any joint measurement of position and momentum. Measures of error and disturbance are here defined as figures of merit characteristic of measuring devices. As such they are state independent, each giving worst-case estimates across all states, in contrast to previous work that is concerned with the relationship between error and disturbance in an individual state.