Has the Uncertainty Principle been defeated?

[markb287]

According to this article, scientists were able to bypass the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, creating relative certainty in measurement of both position and momentum. Any thoughts, objections, comments?

 

[Mordred]

I would say they minimized the influence, not bypassed the uncertainty principle that is just my take on it however

 

[jtbell]

This experiment was discussed rather extensively here when it was first announced:

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=503861

among other threads.

 

[DrChinese]

From the article: "Steinberg stresses that his group's work does not challenge the uncertainty principle, pointing out that the results could, in principle, be predicted with standard quantum mechanics. "

What is done here is what is called "weak" measurements. It is possible to measure many observables to a degree without eliminating all of the uncertainty in that basis.

"What quantum physicist Aephraim Steinberg of the University of Toronto in Canada and his colleagues have now shown, however, is that it is possible to precisely measure photons' position and obtain approximate information about their momentum, in an approach known as 'weak measurement'."

By performing weak measurements on 2 non-commuting observables, you gain some information about both but still have some uncertainty with both. The total uncertainty respects the HUP.