Unsharp measurements and joint measurability

Abstract

We give an overview of joint unsharp measurements of non-commuting observables using positive operator valued measures (POVMs). We exemplify the role played by joint measurability of POVMs in entropic uncertainty relation for Alice's pair of non-commuting observables in the presence of Bob's entangled quantum memory. We show that Bob should record the outcomes of incompatible (non-jointly measurable) POVMs in his quantum memory so as to beat the entropic uncertainty bound. In other words, in addition to the presence of entangled Alice-Bob state, implementing incompatible POVMs at Bob's end is necessary to beat the uncertainty bound and hence predict the outcomes of non-commuting observables with improved precision. We also explore the implications of joint measurability to validate a moment matrix constructed from average pairwise correlations of three dichotomic non-commuting qubit observables. We prove that a classically acceptable moment matrix - which ascertains the existence of a legitimate joint probability distribution for the outcomes of all the three dichotomic observables - could be realized if and only if compatible POVMs are employed.