Quantum Measurement Reliability versus Reversibility

TL;DR

This paper explores the fundamental trade-off between the reliability of quantum measurements and their reversibility, deriving an uncertainty relation that quantifies how gaining information limits reversibility.

Contribution

It introduces a simple physical model and a hypothetical scheme to analyze the intrinsic relation between measurement reliability and reversibility in quantum systems.

Findings

Derived an uncertainty relation between reliability and reversibility.

Showed the relation holds without external environmental interaction.

Provided a conceptual framework for understanding measurement constraints.

Abstract

There is a constraining relation between the reliability of a quantum measurement and the extent to which the measurement process is, in principle, reversible. The greater the information that is gained, the less reversible the measurement dynamics become. To illustrate this relation, we develop a simple physical model for quantum measurement, as well as a hypothetical scheme by which the experimenters can determine the reliability and reversibility. We derive an "uncertainty" (constraining) relation between reliability and reversibility, which holds even when there is no interaction with any external environment other than the fundamental information recording device.