Early formulation of famous physics principle undermined by
lab experiments
Physicists may need to tweak what they think they know about
Werner Heisenberg’s famous uncertainty principle.
Measuring light particles doesn’t push them as far into the
realm of quantum fuzziness as once thought, new research suggests. The work
doesn’t invalidate the principle underlying all of modern quantum theory, but
may have implications for supersecure cryptography and other quantum
applications.
“The real Heisenberg uncertainty principle is alive and
well,” says Lee Rozema, a graduate student at the University of Toronto whose
team reports the finding in the Sept. 7 Physical Review Letters. “It’s really
just this [one aspect] that needs to be updated.”