Standard projective measurements (PMs) represent a subset of all possible measurements in quantum physics, defined by positive-operator-valued measures. We study what quantum measurements are projective simulable, that is, can be simulated by using projective measurements and classical randomness. We first prove that every measurement on a given quantum system can be realized by classical randomization of projective measurements on the system plus an ancilla of the same dimension. Then, given a general measurement in dimension two or three, we show that deciding whether it is PM simulable can be solved by means of semidefinite programming. We also establish conditions for the simulation of measurements using projective ones valid for any dimension. As an application of our formalism, we improve the range of visibilities for which two-qubit Werner states do not violate any Bell inequality for all measurements. From an implementation point of view, our work provides bounds on the amount of white noise a measurement tolerates before losing any advantage over projective ones.

• Received 2 December 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.190501