Breaking The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

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Quantum mechanics forbids us from measuring the universe beyond a certain level of precision. But that doesn’t stop us from trying. And in some cases succeeding, by squeezing the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to its breaking point.

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Hosted by Matt O'Dowd
Written by Katie McCormick & Matt O'Dowd
Graphics by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini, Pedro Osinski, Adriano Leal & Stephanie Faria
GFX Visualizations: Katherine Kornei
Directed by Andrew Kornhaber
Assistant Producer: Setare Gholipour
Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber

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[pbsspacetime]

Correction: The wonderful folks at LIGO reached out and let us know that they *have* in fact used squeezed light in the 2019-2020 observation run. Congratulations to LIGO for yet another incredible innovation and our apologies for the error!

[henryginn]

A quote from my quantum lecturer about the Heisenberg uncertainty principle: "The worst thing about this is that it is actually true"

[sebastianelytron]

Why was Heisenberg's wife unhappy?


Whenever he had the energy, he didn't have the time.

[andreguimaraes]

Awesome episode as always!
Quick side-note from someone that works at LIGO here.
We set the interferometer up such that the waves don't actually destructively interfere completely, only partially.
That is because a completely destructive interference makes the detector the least sensitive to small changes in the differential length of the arm (That would be the bottom of a sine wave on an intensity vs differential arm length plot).
Keeping it at the 1/2 max intensity would make the light output to change the most with differential length (right between bottom and peak of sine wave) but it would also introduce too much noise (not sure on the specifics there).
So the interferometer is kept at about 1/4 or so of the maximum intensity :)

[KonekoEalain]

As I become more certain that I love this show, I become less certain of why I got up and came into the kitchen.

[tomkerruish]

Star Trek has Heisenberg compensators as part of the transporter. When Mike Okuda was asked how they work, he replied, "Very well, thank you."

[shinta]

It will never cease to amaze me how these people find solutions for problems they derived from asking questions I couldn't even imagine.

[denissavgir]

Matt will always be able to end an episode with "spacetime"

[MarkusAldawn]

"When he was *inventing his own version of quantum mechanics.*"

Mad

[orri]

I think 🤔 the title is misleading. What you are proposing is not breaking the principle. Breaking the principle would be able to set up a measurement where ∆x∆p<h/4π. Setting up a system where one of the complimentary variable is high to get better precision in the other is still within the principle.

[trucid]

Cop pulls Heisenberg over and asks, "Sir, do you know how fast you were going?"
Heisenberg replies, "No, but I can tell you exactly where I am."

[ThomasGutierrez]

Great video. I'm not sure I would call it "breaking" but rather simply "using" the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. It is more of a celebration of how to exploit it technologically in novel ways than a demonstration of pushing it beyond physical limits.

[Rasecz]

That’s insane what they’re doing at Ligo. What a time to be alive

[orangeSoda]

I don't need protection from uncertainty. I am the uncertainty. - Werner Heisenberg

[Todesnuss]

A non-linear crystal acts basically like a symmetric transformer in professional audio applications. It regularly amazes me how my knowledge of audio engineering helps me wrap my head around quantum phenomena.

[dakotadad]

I wish this channel had videos every day, I absolutely love it. Love the topics, love the host, and love the efforts of everyone who works on it! Thanks PBS space time you keep making vids and we’ll keep watching! 🚀

[EyesOfByes]

Dating is like quantum physics, nothing is ever certain. Until you ask, and then it all collapses every time

[NotJustBikes]

OK, that concept of squeezed light using entangled photons at the LIGO is officially the coolest thing I've heard in a long time. Damn that's clever.

I swear the best part of all the quantum physics I studied at University is that I have the ability to actually understand what this channel is talking about. 😂

[NewMessage]

And that's why we all know where Space Time will upload... but never exactly when.

[sinisterjuggalo]

This kind of stuff gives me an existential crisis, and I love it.