Probing the geometry of quantum states with symmetric POVMs

Abstract

The geometry of the Quantum State Space, described by Bloch vectors, is a very intricate one. A deeper understanding of this geometry could lead to the solution of some difficult problems in Quantum Foundations and Quantum Information such as the existence of SIC-POVMs and the cardinality of the maximal set of MUBs. In this paper we show that the geometry of quantum states can be described by the probability distributions that quantum states induce over the outcomes of symmetric POVMs not necessarily of arbitrary rank or informationally complete. We also describe the properties of these symmetric POVMs.