Position Uncertainty in the Heisenberg Uncertainty Relation

Seiji Kosugi

Published 2010-02-16, updated 2010-02-26Version 2

Position measurements are examined under the assumption that object position x_t and probe position X_t just after the measurement are expressed by a linear combination of positions x_0 and X_0 just before the measurement. The Heisenberg uncertainty relation between the position uncertainty and momentum disturbance holds when the measurement error \epsilon(x_t) for the object position x_t is adopted as the position uncertainty. However, the uncertainty in the measurement result obtained for x_0 is the standard deviation of the measurement result, and not the measurement error \epsilon(x_0). This difference is due to the reduction of a wave packet. The validity of the linearity assumption is examined in detail.