Joint measurement of two unsharp observables of a qubit

Abstract

We derive a single inequality as the sufficient and necessary condition for two unsharp observables of a two-level system to be jointly measurable in a single apparatus and construct explicitly the joint observables of two jointly measurable observables. By introducing a generalized distinguishability as a measure of the unsharpness of an unsharp measurement, we derive a complementarity inequality, which generalizes Englert's duality inequality, from the condition of joint measurement of two orthogonal unsharp observables. © 2010 The American Physical Society.