Realization of positive-operator-valued measures by projective measurements without introducing ancillary dimensions

Abstract

We propose a scheme that can realize a class of positive-operator-valued measures (POVMs) by performing a sequence of projective measurements on the original system, in the sense that for an arbitrary input state the probability distribution of the measurement outcomes is faithfully reproduced. A necessary and sufficient condition for a POVM to be realizable in this way is also derived. In contrast to the canonical approach provided by Neumark's theorem, our method has the advantage of requiring no auxiliary system. Moreover, an arbitrary POVM can be realized by utilizing our protocol on an extended space which is formed by adding only a single extra dimension.