In 1977, Mishra and Sudarshan [J. Math. Phys. 18, 756 (1977)] showed that an unstable particle would never be found decayed while it was continuously observed. They called this effect the quantum Zeno effect (or paradox). Later it was realized that the frequent measurements could also accelerate the decay (quantum anti-Zeno effect). In this paper, we investigate the quantum Zeno effect using the definite model of the measurement. We take into account the finite duration and the finite accuracy of the measurement. A general equation for the jump probability during the measurement is derived. We find that the measurements can cause inhibition (quantum Zeno effect) or acceleration (quantum anti-Zeno effect) of the evolution, depending on the strength of the interaction with the measuring device and on the properties of the system. However, the evolution cannot be fully stopped.
Quantum Zeno effect is conventionally interpreted by the assumption of the wave-packet collapse, in which does not involve the duration of measurement. However, we predict duration
τm of each measurement will appear in quantum Zeno effect by a dynamical approach. Moreover, there exists a model-free critical measurement time, which quantum Zeno effect does not occur when
τm takes some special values. In order to give these predictions, we first present a description of quantum Zeno effect in the Heisenberg picture, which is based on the expectation value of an observable and its fluctuation. Then we present a general proof for quantum Zeno effect in the Heisenberg picture, which is independent of the concrete systems. Finally, we calculate the average population and relative fluctuation after
N successive measurements in XX model, which agrees with our prediction about the critical measurement time.