Impossible Quantum "Uncollapse" theory proved to be correct

Washington, August 7 : A research team from the University of California at Santa Barbara in the US have proved that the Quantum "Uncollapse" hypothesis, a theory which was earlier thought to be impossible, is correct. Quantum particles behave in ways that from our everyday experience seem utterly impossible. For instance, quantum particles have wave-like properties and can exist in many places at once.

Most scientists have believed that the instant a quantum object was measured, it would "collapse" from being in all the locations it could be, to just one location like a classical object.

Jordan proposed that it would be possible to weakly measure the particle continuously, partially collapsing the quantum state, and then "unmeasured" it, causing the particle to revert back to its original quantum form, before it collapsed.

Jordan's hypothesis suggests that the line between the quantum and classical worlds is not as sharply defined as had been long thought, but that it is rather a gray area that takes time to cross.

In the latest issue of Nature News, Postdoctoral Fellow Nadav Katz explains how his team put the idea to the test and found that, indeed, he is able to take a "weak" measurement of a quantum particle, which triggered a partial collapse.

Katz then undid the damage by altering certain properties of the particle and performing the same weak measurement again.

The particle was returned to its original quantum state just as if no measurement had ever been taken.

Because theorists had believed since 1926 that a measurement of a quantum particle inevitably forced a collapse, it was said that in a way, measurements created reality as we understand it.

Katz, however, said that being able to reverse the collapse "tells us that we really can't assume that measurements create reality because it is possible to erase the effects of a measurement and start again."

ANI