We propose a new criterion to judge zero quantum discord for arbitrary bipartite states. A bipartite quantum state has zero quantum discord if and only if all blocks of its density matrix are normal matrices and commute with each other. Given a bipartite state with zero quantum discord, how to find out the set of local projectors, which do not disturb the whole state after being imposed on one subsystem, is also presented. A class of two-qubit X-state is used to test the criterion, and an experimental scheme is proposed to realize it. Consequently, we prove that the positive operator-valued measurement can not extinguish the quantum correlation of a bipartite state with nonzero quantum discord.
Except for a few special states, computing quantum discord remains a complicated optimization process. In this paper we present analytical solutions for computing quantum discord of the most general class of X-states and the criteria for each analytical solution to be valid. We discuss parameter regions that correspond to different analytical solutions and explain the underlying reasons for such structure to exist. We apply our formalism to study both arbitrary X-states and X-states with certain symmetries. We find that our analytical formalism is in excellent agreement with numerical calculat…
We consider the issue of what should count as a resource for measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC). While a state that supports universal quantum computation clearly should be considered a resource, universality should not be necessary given the existence of interesting, but less computationally-powerful, classes of MBQCs. Here, we propose minimal criteria for a state to be considered a resource state for MBQC. Using these criteria, we explain why discord-free states cannot be resources for MBQC, contrary to recent claims [Hoban et al., arXiv:1304.2667v1]. Independently of our criteria,…
We analyze a class of 2-qudit circulant states. They define generalization of well known 2-qubit X-states. We formula the necessary and sufficient criteria for vanishing quantum discord. We illustrate our analysis by an important subclass of circulant states -- so called Bell diagonal states.
Discord and entanglement characterize two kinds of quantum correlations, and discord captures more correlation than entanglement in the sense that even separable states may have nonzero discord. In this paper, we propose a new kind of quantum correlation we call it oblique discord. A zero-discord state corresponds to an orthonormal basis, while a zero-oblique-discord state corresponds to a basis which is not necessarily orthogonal. Under this definition, the set of zero-discord states is properly contained inside the set of zero-oblique-discord states, and the set of zero-oblique-discord state…
Quantum discord characterizes "non-classicality" of correlations in quantum mechanics. It has been proposed as the key resource present in certain quantum communication tasks and quantum computational models without containing much entanglement. We obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of non-zero quantum discord for any dimensional bipartite states. This condition is easily experimentally implementable. Based on this, we propose a geometrical way of quantifying quantum discord. For two qubits this results in a closed form of expression for discord. We apply our results…
We investigated the super quantum discord based on weak measurements. The super quantum discord is an extension of the standard quantum discord defined by projective measurements and also describes the quantumness of correlations. We provide some equivalent conditions for zero super quantum discord by using quantum discord, classical correlation and mutual information. In particular, we find that the super quantum discord is zero only for product states, which have zero mutual information. This result suggests that non-zero correlations can always be detected using the quantum correlation with…
Quantum information resources quantified by non-zero discord are ubiquitous for the continuous-variables bipartite systems. Complementary to this, we formally construct a model characterized by zero two-way discord for arbitrarily long time interval. The model is classical in the sense it does not support quantum information processing. We point out some interesting physical features of the model.
We report investigation on quantum discord in classical second-order interference. In particular, we theoretically show that a bipartite state with D = 0.311 of discord can be generated via classical second-order interference. We also experimentally verify the theory by obtaining D = 0.197 +- 0.060 of non-zero discord state. Together with the fact that non-classicalities originated from physical constraints and information theoretic perspectives are not equivalent, this result provides an insight to understand the nature of quantum discord.
We present analytical and numerical simulation results for squeezing, entanglement, and quantum discord in a dissipatively coupled coherent Ising machine (CIM). Both analytical solutions and numerical simulation results, which are obtained with positive-P, truncated-Wigner and truncated-Husimi representations for the density operator, predict the presence of entanglement and quantum discord, below and above the threshold of CIM. The entanglement criteria and quantum discord are evaluated as a function of the dissipative coupling strength relative to the background loss. For coupled two DOPOs, …
The "classical-quantum" ($\mathit{cq}$) discord of a bipartite state $ρ^{AB}$ is the smallest difference between the mutual information $S(ρ^{A:B})$ of $ρ$ and that of $ρ$ after a measurement channel is applied on the $A$ system. Relating zero discord to the strong subadditivity of the Von Neumann entropy, Datta proved that a state has zero $\mathit{cq}$ discord iff and only if it can be written in the form $\sum_i p_i\, |i\rangle\langle i|\otimes ρ^B_i$ for $p_i$ a probability distribution, $|i\rangle$ a basis of the $A$ system and $ρ^B_i$ states of the $B$ system. We provide a simple proof o…
Two-qubit X-state is a large class of quantum states which plays an important role in the quantification and dynamical study of quantum correlations. However, the corresponding quantification of quantum discord is still missing for bona fide discord measures, like original quantum discord, Bures distance of discord, and relative entropy of discord. In this paper, we consider the calculation of Bures distance of discord, which is a kind of correlation satisfying all criteria of a discord measure, for two-qubit X-states. Firstly, we derive an explicit expression for Bures distance of discord for…
Quantum discord is significant in analyzing quantum nonclassicality beyond the paradigm of entanglement. Presently we have explored the effectiveness of global unitary operations in manifesting quantum discord from a general two qubit zero discord state. Apart from the emergence of some obvious concepts such as absolute classical-quantum, absolute quantum-classical states, more interestingly, it is observed that set of states characterized by absoluteness contains only maximally mixed state. Consequently this marks the peak of effectiveness of global unitary operations in purview of manifestin…
We consider two celebrated criteria for defining the non-classicality of bipartite bosonic quantum systems, the first stemming from information theoretic concepts and the second from physical constraints on the quantum phase-space. Consequently, two sets of allegedly classical states are singled out: i) the set C composed of the so called classical-classical (CC) states---separable states that are locally distinguishable and do not possess quantum discord; ii) the set P of states endowed with a positive P-representation (P-classical states)---mixture of Glauber coherent states that, e.g., fail…
The positivity of quantum discord is shown to be equivalent to the strong subadditivity of von-Neumann entropy. This leads us to a necessary and sufficient condition characterizing the set of states with zero quantum discord. This also gives us a mathematical definition of pointer states, as they are the states with zero discord. Finally, we suggest that strong subadditivity of entropy might delineate the boundaries of the set of quantum correlations.
Quantum discord quantifies non-classical correlations in a quantum system including those not captured by entanglement. Thus, only states with zero discord exhibit strictly classical correlations. We prove that these states are negligible in the whole Hilbert space: typically a state picked out at random has positive discord; and, given a state with zero discord, a generic arbitrarily small perturbation drives it to a positive-discord state. These results hold for any Hilbert-space dimension, and have direct implications on quantum computation and on the foundations of the theory of open syste…
Recent observation that almost all quantum states bear non-classical correlations [A. Ferraro et al, Phys. Rev. A 81, 052328 (2010)] may seem to imply that the Markovian bipartite systems are practically deprived of zero discord states. Nevertheless, complementary to the result of Ferraro et al, we construct a model of a Markovian bipartite system providing zero discord for arbitrary long time interval, that we term 'Markovian classicality'. Our model represents a matter-of-principle formal proof, i.e. a sufficient condition for the, otherwise not obvious, existence of Markovian classicality. …
The original definition of quantum discord of bipartite states was defined over projective measurements, in this paper we discuss some generalizations of it. These generalizations are defined over general measurements, rank-one general measurements or Neumark extension measurements. We investigate the nonnegativity, zero-discord sets of all these quantum discords and some properties about them.
It has been proven that the quantum discord is a more general tool to capture non-classical correlation than quantum entanglement, because there is a non-zero quantum discord in several mixed states that could not be measured by quantum entanglement. But because of optimization part in formulating quantum discord, it is very difficult and nearly impossible to find quantum discord for some quantum states. So people proposed geometric quantum discord, which in a bipartite state could be describe as the distance of the states from the closest zero-discord state. To understand better geometric qua…
Quantum discord is usually referred to as a measure for quantum correlations. In the search of the fundamental resource to gain a quantum advantage in quantum information applications, quantum discord is considered a promising candidate. In this paper we present an alternative view on quantum correlations in terms of the rank of the correlation matrix as introduced by Dakic, Vedral, and Brukner [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 190502 (2010)]. According to our analysis, information about the quantum discord does not necessarily determine the amount of quantum correlations but rather the quantumness of th…
We investigate the time evolution of negativity and quantum discord for a pair of non-interacting qubits with one being weakly coupled to a decohering Davies--type Markovian environment. At initial time of preparation, the qubits are prepared in one of the maximally entangled pure Bell states. In the limiting case of pure decoherence (i.e. pure dephasing), both, the quantum discord and negativity decay to zero in the long time limit. In presence of a manifest dissipative dynamics, the entanglement negativity undergoes a sudden death at finite time while the quantum discord relaxes continuously…
Here, we compare the behavior of the quantum discord, 1-norm geometric quantum discord and concurrence under the effect of decoherence for XXX Heisenberg spin chain. Their dependencies on temperature and coupling constant are presented in detail. By a comparison between them we can see that quantum discord and 1-norm geometric quantum discord are more robust than the concurrence against decoherence in the sense that quantum discord and 1-norm geometric quantum discord takes a nonzero value and decrease asymptotically, while the concurrence is zero in a large range of parameters including tempe…
In order to explore the effect of external temperature $T$ in quantum correlation we compute thermal entanglement and thermal discord analytically in the Heisenberg $X$ $Y$ $Z$ model with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction term ${\bm D} \cdot \left( {\bm σ}_1 \times {\bm σ}_2 \right)$. For the case of thermal entanglement it is shown that quantum phase transition occurs at $T = T_c$ due to sudden death phenomenon. For antiferromagnetic case the critical temperature $T_c$ increases with increasing $|{\bm D}|$. For ferromagnetic case, however, $T_c$ exhibits different behavior in the regions $|{\…
Quantum discord was proposed as a measure of the "quantumness" of correlations. There are at least three different discord-like quantities, two of which determine the difference between the efficiencies of a Szilard's engine under different sets of restrictions. The three discord measures vanish simulataneosly. We introduce an easy way to test for zero discord, relate it to the Cerf-Adami conditional entropy and show that there is no relation between the discord and the local disitnguishability.
By rigorously formalizing the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) argument, and Bohr's reply, one can appreciate that both arguments were technically correct. Their opposed conclusions about the completeness of quantum mechanics hinged upon an explicit difference in their criteria for when a measurement on Alice's system can be regarded as not disturbing Bob's system. The EPR criteria allow their conclusion (incompletness) to be reached by establishing the physical reality of just a single observable $q$ (not a conjugate pair $q$ and $p$), but I show that Bohr's definition of disturbance prevents th…
The behavior of total purely quantum correlation (discord) in dimers consisting of dipolar-coupled spins 1/2 is studied. We found that the discord Q=0 at the absolute zero temperature. With increasing the temperature $T$, at first the quantum correlations in the system increase, smoothly reach the maximum, and then turn again into zero according to the asymptotic law $T^{-2}$. It is also shown that in absence of external magnetic field $B$, the classical correlation $C$ at $T\to0$ is, vice versa, maximal. Our calculations predict that in crystalline gypsum ${\rm CaSO_4\cdot2H_2O}$ the value of…
We find that when a qubit initialized in a pure state experiences pure dephasing due to interaction with an environment, separable qubit-environment states generated during the evolution also have zero quantum discord with respect to the environment. What follows is that the set of separable states which can be reached during the evolution has zero volume and hence, such effects as sudden death of qubit-environment entanglement are very unlikely. In case of the discord with respect to the qubit, a vast majority of separable states qubit-environment is discordant, but in specific situations zer…
We investigate the dynamics of entanglement and quantum discord of two qubits in liquid state homonuclear NMR. Applying a phenomenological description for NMR under relaxation process, and taking a group of typical parameters of NMR, we show that when a zero initial state $|00> $ experiences a relaxation process, its entanglement disappears completely after a sequence of so-called sudden deaths and revivals, while the quantum discord retains remarkable values after a sequence of oscillations. That is to say, the quantum discord is more robust than entanglement.
We define a new measure of quantum correlations in bipartite quantum systems given by the Bures distance of the system state to the set of classical states with respect to one subsystem, that is, to the states with zero quantum discord. Our measure is a geometrical version of the quantum discord. As the latter it quantifies the degree of non-classicality in the system. For pure states it is identical to the geometric measure of entanglement. We show that for mixed states it coincides with the optimal success probability of an ambiguous quantum state discrimination task. Moreover, the closest z…
Quantum discord has been studied extensively as a measure of non-classical correlations which includes entanglement as a subset. Although it is well known that non-zero discord can exist without entanglement, the origin of quantum discord is not well understood as compared to entanglement, which manifests itself more simply as inseparable higher dimensional quantum superposition. In this paper we establish the discordlike correlation of bipartite coherence and then compare it to quantum discord. Consequently, we show that the minimum of the discordlike correlation of coherence coincides with t…
The protocol proposed in the commented-upon article can certify zero discord; however, it fails to quantify non-zero discord for some states. Further, the protocol is less efficient than calculating discord via performing full quantum state tomography.
We investigate how the quantum correlations (quantum discord) of a two-qubit one dimensional XYZ Heisenberg chain in thermal equilibrium depends on the temperature (T) of the bath and also on an external magnetic field B. We show that the behavior of the thermal quantum discord (QD) differs in many unexpected ways from the thermal entanglement. For example, we show situations where QD increases with T when entanglement decreases, cases where QD increases with T even in regions with zero entanglement, and that QD signals a quantum phase transition even at finite T. We also show that by properly…
We quantize prisoners dilemma and chicken game by our generalized quantization scheme to explore the role of quantum discord in quantum games. In order to establish this connection we use Werner-like state as an initial state of the game. In this quantization scheme measurement can be performed in entangled as well as in product basis. For the measurement in entangled basis the dilemma in both the games can be resolved by separable states with non-zero quantum discord. Similarly for product basis measurement the payoffs are quantum mechanical only for nonzero values of quantum discord.
We discuss the creation of quantum discord between two two-level atoms trapped in an optical cavity in a noisy environment. It is shown that nonzero steady-state quantum discord between atoms can be obtained when the white-noise field is separately imposed on atoms or cavity mode, while the steady-state quantum discord reaches zero if both cavity mode and atoms are driven simultaneously by white-noise fields. In particular, we demonstrate that white-noise field in different cases can play a variously constructive role in the generation of quantum discord.
Quantum discord quantifies quantum correlations beyond entanglement and assumes nonzero values, which are notoriously hard to compute, for almost all quantum states. Here we provide computable tight bounds for the quantum discord for qubit-qudit states. In the case of two qubits our lower and upper bounds coincide for a 7-parameter family of filtered $X$-states, whose quantum discords can therefore be evaluated analytically. An application to the accessible information of the binary qubit channel is also presented. For the qubit-qudit state output by the circuit of deterministic computation wi…
We studied the geometric quantum discord of a quantum system consisted of a Jaynes- Cummings atom, a cavity and an isolated atom. The analytical expressions of the geometric quantum discord for two atoms, every atom with cavity and the total system were obtained. We showed that the geometric quantum discord is not always zero when entanglement fall in death for two-atom subsystem; the geometric measurement of quantum discord of the total system developed periodically with a single frequency if the initial state of two atoms was not entangled, otherwise, it oscillates with two or four frequenci…
We revisit the problem of the dynamics of quantum correlations in the exact Tavis-Cummings model. We show that many of the dynamical features of quantum discord attributed to dissipation are already present in the exact framework and are due to the well known non-linearities in the model and to the choice of initial conditions. Through a comprehensive analysis, supported by explicit analytical calculations, we find that the dynamics of entanglement and quantum discord are far from being trivial or intuitive. In this context, we find states that are indistinguishable from the point of view of e…
Geometric discord, a measure of quantumness of bipartite system, captures minimal nonlocal effects of a quantum state due to locally invariant von Neumann projective measurements. Original version of this measure is suffered by the local ancilla problem. In this article, we propose a new version of geometric discord using affinity. This quantity satisfies all criteria of a good measure of quantum correlation of the bipartite system and resolves local ancilla problem of Hilbert-Schmidt norm based discord. We evaluate analytically the proposed quantity for both pure and mixed states. For an arbi…
The non-Markovian master equations are derived to study quantum discord dynamics of two qubits coupled to a common reservoir and two independent reservoirs, respectively. We compare the dynamics under different parameters, such as reservoir spectra and resonant parameters, at high temperature and at zero temperature. The results indicate that the dynamics at these two extreme temperatures share similar characters, as well as differences.
Entanglement does not describe all quantum correlations and several authors have shown the need to go beyond entanglement when dealing with mixed states. Various different measures have sprung up in the literature, for a variety of reasons, to describe bipartite and multipartite quantum correlations; some are known under the collective name quantum discord. Yet, in the same sprit as the criteria for entanglement measures, there is no general mechanism that determines whether a measure of quantum and classical correlations is a proper measure of correlations. This is partially due to the fact t…
Measurements of Quantum Systems disturb their states. To quantify this non-classical characteristic, Zurek and Ollivier introduced the quantum discord, a quantum correlation which can be nonzero even when entanglement in the system is zero. Discord has aroused great interest as a resource that is more robust against the effects of decoherence and offers exponential speed up of certain computational algorithms. Here, we study general two-level bipartite systems and give general results on the relationship between discord, entanglement, and linear entropy, and identify the states for which disco…
We consider local time evolution given by spontaneous emission in the system of independent two-level atoms. It is shown that all classically correlated initial states are driven into the states with transient non-zero quantum discord. Thus local creation of genuine quantum correlations can be observed in a simple physical system of non-interacting atoms which are not completely isolated from the environment.
The thermal quantum discord (QD) is studied in a two-qubit Heisenberg XXZ system with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction. We compare the thermal QD with thermal entanglement in this system and find remarkable differences between them. For instance, we show situations where QD decreases asymptotically to zero with temperature $T$ while entanglement decreases to zero at the point of critical temperature, situations where QD decreases with certain tunable parameters such as $D_z$ and $D_x$ when entanglement increases. We find that the characteristic of QD is exotic in this system and this pos…
We investigate the amount of entanglement and quantum discord extractable from a two mode squeezed state as considered from the viewpoint of two observers, Alice (inertial) and Rob (accelerated). We find that using localized modes produces qualitatively different correlation properties for large accelerations than do Unruh modes. Specifically, the entanglement undergoes a sudden death as a function of acceleration and the discord asymptotes to zero in the limit of infinite acceleration. We conclude that the previous Unruh mode analyses do not determine the acceleration dependent entanglement a…
Modern quantum information theory provides new tools for investigating the decoherence-induced "classicality" of open quantum systems. Recent observation that almost all quantum states bear non-classical correlations [A. Ferraro {\it et al}, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 81}, 052318 (2010)] distinguishes the zero-discord classicality essentially as a pathology of the Markovian bipartite-systems realm. Nevertheless, we formally construct such a classical model and its variant that represents a matter-of-principle formal proof, i.e. a sufficient condition for the, otherwise not obvious, existence of the Mar…
We introduce a measurement-based method for verifying quantum discord of any bipartite quantum system. We show that by performing an informationally complete POVM (IC-POVM) on one subsystem and checking the commutativity of the conditional states of the other subsystem, quantum discord from the second subsystem to the first can be verified. This is an improvement upon previous methods, which enables us to efficiently apply our method to continuous-variable systems, as IC-POVMs are readily available from homodyne or heterodyne measurements. We show that quantum discord for Gaussian states can b…
We study the non-Markovian effect on the dynamics of the quantum discord by exactly solving a model consisting of two independent qubits subject to two zero-temperature non-Markovian reservoirs, respectively. Considering the two qubits initially prepared in Bell-like or extended Werner-like states, we show that there is no occurrence of the sudden death, but only instantaneous disappearance of the quantum discord at some time points, in comparison to the entanglement sudden death in the same range of the parameters of interest. It implies that the quantum discord is more useful than the entang…
Quantum discord plays a pragmatic role in analyzing nonclassical feature of quantum correlations beyond entanglement. It is used in several information processing protocols which lacks sufficient amount of entanglement to be used as a resource. We have provided with an analytical method of detecting quantum discord of an arbitrary two qubit state. We have formulated a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for any two qubit state to be a both-way non-zero quantum discord state. As quantum discord is asymmetric in nature, we have framed the set of if and only if conditions for a two qubit s…
Institute of Theoretical Physics, Wrocław University of Science and Technology（弗罗茨瓦夫理工大学理论物理研究所）；Institute of Physics (FZU), Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院物理研究所）
We calculate the quantum discord between two free modes of a scalar field which start in a maximally entangled state and then undergo a relative, constant acceleration. In a regime where there is no distillable entanglement due to the Unruh effect, we show that there is a finite amount of quantum discord, which is a measure of purely quantum correlations in a state, over and above quantum entanglement. Even in the limit of infinite acceleration of the observer detecting one of the modes, we provide evidence for a non-zero amount of purely quantum correlations, which might be exploited to gain …
We analyse the generation of quantum discord by means of the dynamical Casimir effect in superconducting waveguides modulated by superconducting quantum interferometric devices. We show that for realistic experimental parameters, the conditions for the existence of quantum discord are less demanding than the previously considered for quantum entanglement or non-classicality. The states with non-zero discord and zero entanglement generated by the dynamical Casimir effect are a useful resource for quantum cryptography.
We study the dynamics and the asymptotic behaviors of quantum discord in a one-dimensional XY model coupled through time-dependent nearest-neighbor interactions and in the presence of a time-dependent magnetic field. We find that the time evolution of the nearest-neighbor quantum discord in this system shows non-ergodic behaviors but is asymptotic to its steady value at the long-time limit. The zero-temperature asymptotic behaviors of quantum discord is only determined by the ratio between the coupling parameter and magnetic field, whereas the finite-temperature asymptotic behaviors determined…
We investigate evolution of quantum correlations in ensembles of two-qubit nuclear spin systems via nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. We use discord as a measure of quantum correlations and the Werner state as an explicit example. We first introduce different ways of measuring discord and geometric discord in two-qubit systems and then describe the following experimental studies: (a) We quantitatively measure discord for Werner-like states prepared using an entangling pulse sequence. An initial thermal state with zero discord is gradually and periodically transformed into a mixed state wi…
In the framework of the theory of open systems, we give a description of quantum entanglement and quantum discord for two non-interacting modes embedded in a thermal environment. We describe the evolution of entanglement in terms of the covariance matrix for Gaussian input states. For all values of the temperature of the thermal reservoir, an initial separable squeezed thermal state remains separable for all times. In the case of an entangled initial squeezed thermal state, entanglement suppression (entanglement sudden death) takes place, for non-zero temperatures of the environment. The Gauss…
Quantum Discord (QD) is a measure of the total quantum non-local correlations of a quantum system. The formalism of quantum discord has been applied to various two-qubit mixed states and it has been reported that there is a non-zero quantum discord even when the states are unentangled. To this end, we have calculated the Quantum Discord for higher than two qubit mixed state, that is, the generalized n-qubit Werner state with a bipartite split. We found that the QD saturates to a straight line with unit slope in the thermodynamic limit. Qualitative studies of entanglement between the two subsys…
In the framework of the theory of open systems based on completely positive quantum dynamical semigroups, we give a description of the continuous-variable quantum entanglement and quantum discord for a system consisting of two noninteracting modes embedded in a thermal environment. Entanglement and discord are used to quantify the quantum correlations of the system. For all values of the temperature of the thermal reservoir, an initial separable Gaussian state remains separable for all times. We study the time evolution of logarithmic negativity, which characterizes the degree of entanglement,…
We provide experimental evidence of quantum features in bi-partite states classified as entirely classical according to a conventional criterion based on the Glauber P-function but possessing non-zero Gaussian quantum discord. Their quantum nature is experimentally revealed by acting locally on one part of the discordant state. Adding an environmental system purifying the state, we unveil the flow of quantum correlations within a global pure system using the Koashi-Winter inequality. We experimentally verify and investigate the counterintuitive effect of discord increase under the action of lo…
