Continuous measurement of the energy eigenstates of a nanomechanical resonator without a nondemolition probe

We show that it is possible to perform a continuous measurement that continually projects a nanoresonator into its energy eigenstates by employing a linear coupling with a two-state system. This technique makes it possible to perform a measurement that exposes the quantum nature of the resonator by coupling it to a Cooper-pair box and a superconducting transmission line resonator.