A dynamical model for Positive-Operator Valued Measures

Abstract: We tackle the dynamical description of the quantum measurement process, by explicitly addressing the interaction between the system under investigation with the measurement apparatus, the latter ultimately considered as macroscopic quantum object. We consider arbitrary Positive Operator Valued Measures (POVMs), such that the orthogonality constraint on the measurement operators is relaxed. We show that, likewise the well-known von-Neumann scheme for projective measurements, it is possible to build up a dynamical model holding a unitary propagator characterized by a single time-independent Hamiltonian. This is achieved by modifying the standard model so as to compensate for the possible lack of orthogonality among the measurement operators of arbitrary POVMs.