English

Position Measurements Obeying Momentum Conservation

Quantum Physics 2011-03-22 v3

Abstract

We present a hitherto unknown fundamental limitation to a basic measurement: that of the position of a quantum object when the total momentum of the object and apparatus is conserved. This result extends the famous Wigner-Araki-Yanase (WAY) theorem, and shows that accurate position measurements are only practically feasible if there is a large momentum uncertainty in the apparatus.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1005.0569,
  title  = {Position Measurements Obeying Momentum Conservation},
  author = {Paul Busch and Leon Loveridge},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1005.0569},
  year   = {2011}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-21T15:18:27.274Z