Realization of Measurement and the Standard Quantum Limit

TL;DR

This paper refutes the standard quantum limit (SQL) for position measurements of free masses, demonstrating that precise measurements can be physically realized to surpass the SQL using contractive state measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a general criterion for quantum measurements, develops a theory of approximate position measurements, and constructs a model that breaks the SQL with arbitrary accuracy.

Findings

The SQL is based on unsupported assumptions about quantum measurements.

Precise position measurements can leave the object in a contractive state.

A model is constructed that surpasses the SQL with arbitrary accuracy.

Abstract

This paper, following [M. Ozawa, Phys. Rev. Lett. 60, 385 (1988)], reports a refutation of the claim that for monitoring the position of a free mass such as gravitational-wave interferometers the sensitivity is limited by the so called standard quantum limit (SQL) due to the uncertainty principle. The latest proof of the SQL is analyzed to revleal an unsupported assumption on quantum measurements. Quantum measurement theory is introduced to give a general criterion for physically realizable measurements in quantum mechanics. A theory of approximate position measurements is developed to obtain a rigorous condition for the SQL and also to show that a precise position measurement can leave the object in an arbitrary family of states independent of the input state. This concludes that Yuen's proposal of breaking the SQL by a contractive state measurement, a measurement of the position leaving the free mass in a state with the position uncertainty decreasing in time, is physically realizable in principle. To enforce this conclusion, a model for error-free position measurement that leaves the object in a contractive state is constructed with a solvable Hamiltonian for measuring interaction. Finally, this model is shown to break the SQL with arbitrary accuracy.