Abstract

We introduce a method to determine whether a given generalized quantum measurement is isolated or if it belongs to a family of measurements having the same prescribed symmetry. The technique proposed reduces to solving a linear system of equations in some relevant cases. As a consequence, we provide a simple derivation of the maximal family of symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measure SIC-POVM in dimension 3. Furthermore, we show that the following remarkable geometrical structures are isolated, so that free parameters cannot be introduced: (a) maximal sets of mutually unbiased bases in prime power dimensions from 4 to 16, (b) SIC-POVM in dimensions from 4 to 16, and (c) contextual Kochen-Specker sets in dimension 3, 4, and 6, composed of 13, 18, and 21 vectors, respectively.