Drum Entanglement and the Future of Quantum Technology

Werner Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle states that the position and velocity of an object

cannot be measured simultaneously. Within the quantum world, particles are waves, which makes the

Uncertainty Principle appear undeniable. However, according to a team of scientists at Aalto University in

Finland, it might be possible to bypass this axiom. Rather than using elementary particles like electrons in

their experiment, the researchers used two drumheads, each measuring one-fifth the width of one human

hair, which is massively larger than an electron. As Dr. Laure Mercier de Lepinay explained, “In our

work, the drumheads exhibit a collective quantum motion. The drums vibrate in an opposite phase to each

other, such that when one of them is in an end position of the vibration cycle, the other is in the opposite

position at the same time. In this situation, the quantum uncertainty of the drums’ motion is canceled if

the two drums are treated as one quantum-mechanical entity.” In other words, each drumhead was forced

into quantum mechanical behavior. Particles undergoing quantum mechanical behavior are assumed to

follow several key concepts, including the Uncertainty Principle and quantum entanglement, among

others. However, even though the drumheads were exhibiting true quantum mechanical behavior, the team

was able to measure the position and momentum of each at the same time, which completely goes against

Heisenberg’s principle. Quantum entanglement was already confusing, but this idea is mind-blowing to

me. I thought that it was impossible to find a way around the Uncertainty Principle; it just seemed so rock

solid. I suppose I should accept that in essence, no physics “principle” is safe from eventual changes or

even falsification. In the future, the team aims to use the results of this experiment and the ideas from it to

attempt to connect nodes of large-scale quantum networks, aiding in the growth of the emerging field of

quantum technology. The article was published on May 6, 2021.

Works Cited

Stewart 1/2
Aalto University. "Evading the uncertainty principle in quantum physics: New technique gets around

100-year-old rule of quantum physics for the first time." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 May 2021.

<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210506142138.htm>.

“Quantum Mechanics.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 May 2021,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics#Overview_and_fundamental_concepts.

Vidar. “Google's Quantum Computer Is About 158 Million Times Faster Than the World's Fastest

Supercomputer.” Medium, Predict, 28 Feb. 2021,

medium.com/predict/googles-quantum-computer-is-about-158-million-times-faster-than-the-world-s-faste

st-supercomputer-36df56747f7f#:~:text=This%20makes%20Google's%20quantum%20computer,photons

%2C%20electrons%20and%20atomic%20nuclei.

Stewart 2/2