arXiv:2602.17462 · Reports on Progress in Physics

Simulating quantum measurements without superposition devices

Gabriele Cobucci, Alexander Bernal, Roope Uola, Armin Tavakoli

quant-phSubmitted Feb 19, 2026• Announced Feb 20, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Jun 30, 2026 (v5)

Abstract

Superposition is the core feature that sets quantum theory apart from classical physics. Here, we investigate whether sets of quantum measurements can be modelled by using only devices that are classical, in the sense that they only resolve orthogonal measurement outcomes. This leads us to introduce classical measurement models, which we show to be intermediate between the notion of commutative measurements and joint measurability. Towards understanding these models we (i) identify exact noise and loss rates at which all projective measurements admit a classical model, (ii) propose numerical methods to construct classical models for finite sets of measurements, and (iii) show how to construct witnesses of genuine superposition properties in quantum measurements. In addition, we show that classical measurement models also have operational implications in non-disturbance tasks where sequential quantum measurements are implemented with classical side-information. Our work provides a new approach to the role of superposition in quantum measurements.

Journal reference: Reports on Progress in Physics 2026
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6633/aeab0d

Related papers

Operationally classical simulation of quantum states

Gabriele Cobucci, Alexander Bernal, Martin J. Renner +1 more

A classical state-preparation device cannot generate states in relative superposition. We introduce classical models in which devices that are individually unable to generate states with relative superposition can be stochastically coordinated to simulate sets of quantum states. These models have natural operational interpretation in prepare-and-measure scenarios and they can account for many non-commuting quantum state sets. We develop systematic methods both for classically simulating quantum sets and for showing that no such simulation exists, thereby certifying quantum coherence. In particular, we determine the exact noise rates required to classically simulate the entire state space of quantum theory. We also reveal connections between the operational classicality of sets and the well-known fundamental concepts of joint measurability and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering. Here, we present an avenue to understand how and to what extent quantum states defy generic models based on classical devices, which also has relevant implications for quantum information applications.

arXiv:2502.01440Nature CommunicationsJan 27, 20261 citation

Simulating Quantum Instruments with Projective Measurements and Quantum Postprocessing

Shishir Khandelwal, Armin Tavakoli

Quantum instruments describe both the classical outcome and the updated state associated with a quantum measurement. We ask whether these processes can be simulated using only a natural subset of resources, namely projective measurements on the system and quantum processing of the postmeasurement states. We show that the simulability of instruments can be connected to an entanglement classification problem. This leads to a computationally efficient necessary condition for simulation of generic instruments and to a complete characterisation for qubits. We use this to address relevant quantum information tasks, namely (i) the noise tolerance of standard qubit unsharp measurements, (ii) nonprojective advantages in information-disturbance trade-offs, and (iii) increased sequential Bell inequality violations under projective measurements. Moreover, we consider also d-dimensional Lüders instruments that correspond to weak versions of standard basis measurements and show that for large d these can permit scalable noise advantages over projective implementations.

arXiv:2503.00956Physical Review LettersJun 30, 20255 citations

Simulability of High-Dimensional Quantum Measurements

Marie Ioannou, Pavel Sekatski, Sébastien Designolle +3 more

We investigate the compression of quantum information with respect to a given set M of high-dimensional measurements. This leads to a notion of simulability, where we demand that the statistics obtained from M and an arbitrary quantum state ρ are recovered exactly by first compressing ρ into a lower-dimensional space, followed by some quantum measurements. A full quantum compression is possible, i.e., leaving only classical information, if and only if the set M is jointly measurable. Our notion of simulability can thus be seen as a quantification of measurement incompatibility in terms of dimension. After defining these concepts, we provide an illustrative example involving mutually unbiased bases, and develop a method based on semidefinite programming for constructing simulation models. In turn we analytically construct optimal simulation models for all projective measurements subjected to white noise or losses. Finally, we discuss how our approach connects with other concepts introduced in the context of quantum channels and quantum correlations.

arXiv:2202.12980Physical Review LettersNov 4, 202219 citations

Operational framework for quantum measurement simulability

Leonardo Guerini, Jessica Bavaresco, Marcelo Terra Cunha +1 more

We introduce a framework for simulating quantum measurements based on classical processing of a set of accessible measurements. Well-known concepts such as joint measurability and projective simulability naturally emerge as particular cases of our framework, but our study also leads to novel results and questions. First, a generalisation of joint measurability is derived, which yields a hierarchy for the incompatibility of sets of measurements. A similar hierarchy is defined based on the number of outcomes necessary to perform a simulation of a given measurement. This general approach also allows us to identify connections between different kinds of simulability and, in particular, we characterise the qubit measurements that are projective-simulable in terms of joint measurability. Finally, we discuss how our framework can be interpreted in the context of resource theories.

arXiv:1705.06343Journal of Mathematical PhysicsSep 1, 201765 citations

Generalized measurement incompatibility

Edwin Peter Lobo, Maria Balanzó-Juandó, Stefano Pironio

Quantum measurements can be incompatible, i.e., they can fail to be jointly measurable. Recently, a weaker notion of joint-measurability, called partial joint-measurability, was proposed by Masini et al. in [Quantum 8, 1574 (2024)]. In this work, we further generalize this notion to the setting where only a subset of the outcomes of each measurement is required to be jointly determined by classical variables. We provide two mathematical formulations of partial joint-measurability and show that, like full joint-measurability, it can be decided by solving a single semidefinite program. We prove that in the case of an untrusted measurement device, an adversary Eve, limited to classical side information, can perfectly guess the outcomes of the measurement device if and only if the set of measurements is partially jointly measurable. We derive analytical thresholds on the detection efficiency below which generic measurements become partially jointly measurable. Such bounds directly yield limits on the robustness of device-independent and semi-device-independent quantum cryptographic protocols against detection inefficiency. In particular, our results highlight the importance of a careful treatment of postselection in security analyses.

quant-pharXiv:2605.16151May 18, 20260 citations

Sequential measurements of non-commuting observables with quantum controlled interactions

Holger Friedrich Hofmann

The origin of non-classical correlations is difficult to identify since the uncertainty principle requires that information obtained about one observable invariably results in the disturbance of any other non-commuting observable. Here, this problem is addressed by investigating the uncertainty trade-off between measurement errors and disturbance for measurement interactions controlled by the state of a single qubit, where the measurement is described by a quantum coherent superposition of a fully projective measurement and the identity operation. It is shown that the measurement statistics obtained from a quantum controlled measurement of followed by a projective measurement of can be explained in terms of a simple combination of resolution and back-action errors acting on an intrinsic joint probability of the non-commuting observables defined by the input state of the system. These intrinsic joint probabilities are consistent with the complex-valued joint probabilities recently observed in weak measurements of quantum systems and provide direct evidence of non-commutativity in the form of imaginary correlations between the non-commuting operators. In quantum controlled measurements, these imaginary correlations can be converted into well-defined contributions to the real measurement statistics, allowing a direct experimental observation of the less intuitive aspects of quantum theory.

Aug 16, 201613 citations