Quantum discord dynamics of two qubits in single-mode cavities

The dynamics of quantum discord for two identical qubits in two independent single-mode cavities and a common single-mode cavity are discussed. For the initial Bell state with correlated spins, while the entanglement sudden death can occur, the quantum discord vanishes only at discrete moments in the independent cavities and never vanishes in the common cavity. Interestingly, quantum discord and entanglement show opposite behavior in the common cavity, unlike in the independent cavities. For the initial Bell state with anti-correlated spins, quantum discord and entanglement behave in the same way for both independent cavities and a common cavity. It is found that the detunings always stabilize the quantum discord.     

Quantum correlation dynamics of three non-coupled two-level atoms in different reservoirs

Time evolution dynamics of three non-coupled two-level atoms independently interacting with their reservoirs is solved exactly by considering a damping Lorentzian spectral density.For three atoms initially prepared in Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-type state,quantum correlation dynamics in a Markovian reservoir is compared with that in a nonMarkovian reservoir.By increasing detuning quantity in the non-Markovian reservoir,three-atom correlation dynamics measured by negative eigenvalue presents a trapping phenomenon which provides long-time quantum entanglement.Then we compare the correlation dynamics of three atoms with that of two atoms,measured by quantum entanglement and quantum discord for an initial robuster-entangled type state.The result further confirms that quantum discord is indeed different from quantum entanglement in identifying quantum correlation of many bodies.     

The Dynamics of Quantum Correlation and Its Transfer in Dissipative Systems

Quantum correlation of a general bipartite quantum state may contain not only entanglement but also the ingredient that cannot be accounted for by entanglement. In this paper, we study the dynamics of quantum correlation by virtue of quantum discord, in particular the transfer of quantum correlation in the absence of entanglement. The considered model consists of two correlated qubits with each one being coupled to an independent reservoir. We show that the reservoirs which are initially in product state can be induced quantum correlation even when the qubits are initially in separate state.     

Quantum Discord of two Coupled Qubits with Initial System-reservoir Correlation

Recently, the effect of initial qubit-reservoir correlation for two qubits in a common reservoir on the entanglement dynamics has been studied by Yan and Xia (Acta Sinica Quantum Optica 20, 16 2014). We extend their results and investigate how the initial qubit-reservoir correlation and dipole-dipole interaction between two qubits effect on dynamics of quantum discord in Markovian and non-Markovian regimes, respectively. The results show that in general, the larger initial qubit-reservoir correlation and dipole-dipole interaction can retard the decay of quantum discord. Besides, a combination of relatively strong dipole-dipole interaction and non-Markovian effect can efficiently protect quantum discord. Finally,thecomparisonbetweenevolutionsofquantumdiscordandentanglementisalsoconsidered.     

Steady-State Discord Between Two Qubits Coupled Collectively to a Thermal Reservoir

We study the dynamics of quantum discord between two qubits coupled collectively to a thermal reservoir. For comparison, we also consider the dynamics of quantum entanglement. It is shown that we can obtain a stable quantum discord induced by the thermal environment when the discord of the initial state is zero. The thermal environment can also induce a stable amplification of the initially prepared quantum discord for certain X-type states. It is very valuable that the quantum discord is more resistant against the thermal environment than quantum entanglement. And, we have demonstrated that the sudden death of discord in a Markovian regime is impossible even at high temperature. It provides us a feasible way to create and protect quantum correlation in the case of a high-temperature thermal environment for various physical system such as trapped ions, quantum dots or Josephson junctions.     

Geometrical quantum discord and negativity of two separable and mixed qubits

We studied quantum correlation and quantum entanglement of a quantum system in which a coherent state light field interacts with two qubits that are initially prepared in a separable and mixed state.The influence of mean photon number of the coherent field and distribution probability of the atom on the geometrical quantum discord and the negativity are discussed.Our results show that the mean photon number of light field and distribution function of the atom can regulate and control the quantum correlation and quantum entanglement.     

Measurement-induced nonlocality and geometric quantum discord in two SC-charge qubits

By using geometric quantum discord and measurement-induced nonlocality, quantum correlations are investigated for two superconducting (SC) charge qubits that share a large Josephson junction where the field is assumed to be prepared initially in a coherent state. It is found that the difference between measure measurement-induced nonlocality and geometric quantum discord, of the final state of the two SC-charge qubits system which is especial case of X-states, is equal to a constant value. It is found that the quantum correlations and entanglement of the qubits are very sensitive to the mean number of the coherent photons. The entanglement exists in small intervals of death quantum discord and measurement-induced nonlocality. This is further evidence in support of the fact that quantum correlation and entanglement are not synonymous.     

Quantum correlations dynamics of three-qubit states coupled to an XY spin chain: Role of coupling strengths

We investigate the prominent impacts of coupling strengths on the evolution of entanglement and quantum discord for a three-qubit system coupled to an XY spin-chain environment. In the case of a pure W state, more robust, even larger nonzero quantum correlations can be obtained by tailoring the coupling strengths between the qubits and the environment.For a mixed state consisting of the GHZ and W states, the dynamics of entanglement and quantum discord can characterize the critical point of quantum phase transition. Remarkably, a large nonzero quantum discord is generally retained, while the nonzero entanglement can only be obtained as the system-environment coupling satisfies certain conditions. We also find that the impact of each qubit's coupling strength on the quantum correlation dynamics strongly depends on the variation schemes of the system-environment couplings.     

Dynamics of Quantum Discord of Two-Qubit Coupled with a Vacuum Cavity

The dynamical behaviors of quantum discord between two atoms coupled with a vacuum cavity are investigated. If the two qubits are initially prepared in two extended Werner-like states, the quantum discord and entanglement can be numerically calculated. There are remarkable differences between the time evolutions of the quantum discord and entanglement under the same conditions. These results imply that quantum discord is not zero for some unentangled states and in some regions entanglement can disappear completely. A large amount of quantum discord exists between the two-qubit. Thus, the quantum discord is more robust than entanglement for the quantum system exposed to the environment. The quantum discord shows sudden change and its existence depends on the initial state of the system. This property of quantum discord may have important implications for experimental characterization of quantum phase transitions.     

Decoherence from a spin chain with Dzyaloshinskii—Moriya interaction

We study the dynamics of quantum discord and entanglement for two spin qubits coupled to a spin chain with Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction.In the case of a two-qubit with an initial pure state,quantum correlations decay to zero at the critical point of the environment in a very short time.In the case of a two-qubit with initial mixed state,it is found that quantum discord may get maximized due to the quantum critical behavior of the environment,while entanglement vanishes under the same condition.Besides,we observed a sudden transition between classical and quantum decoherence when only a single qubit interacts with the environment.The effects of Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction on quantum correlations are considered in the two cases.The decay of quantum correlations is always strengthened by Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction.     

Quantum Discord for Two-Qubit System in a Symmetry-Broken Environment

In contrast with the entanglement, we study the quantum discord dynamics of the two-qubit system in a symmetry-broken environment consisting of a fermionic bath. The quantum discord decay induced by the bath is analysed. By considering the two qubits that are initially prepared in the different X-states, we find that the behaviors of quantum discord and entanglement are different, the robustness of quantum discord depends on the initial state prepared in.     

Controllable coupling and quantum correlation dynamics of two double quantum dots coupled via a transmission line resonator

We propose a theoretical scheme to generate a controllable and switchable coupling between two double-quantum-dot (DQD) spin qubits by using a transmission line resonator (TLR) as a bus system. We study dynamical behaviors of quantum correlations described by entanglement correlation (EC) and discord correlation (DC) between two DQD spin qubits when the two spin qubits and the TLR are initially prepared in X-type quantum states and a coherent state, respectively. We demonstrate that in the EC death regions there exist DC stationary states in which the stable DC amplification or degradation can be generated during the dynamical evolution. It is shown that these DC stationary states can be controlled by initial-state parameters, the coupling, and detuning between qubits and the TLR. We reveal the full synchronization and anti-synchronization phenomena in the EC and DC time evolution, and show that the EC and DC synchronization and anti-synchronization depends on the initial-state parameters of the two DQD spin qubits. It is shown that the initial quantum correlation may be suppressed completely when the evolution time approaches to the infinity in the presence of dissipation. These results shed new light on dynamics of quantum correlations.     

Quantum correlations in non-Markovian environments

We have studied the analytical Markovian and non-Markovian dynamics of quantum correlations, such as entanglement, quantum discord and Bell nonlocalities for three noisy qubits. Quantum correlation as measured by quantum discord is found to be immune to death contrary to entanglement and Bell nonlocality for initial GHZ- or W-type mixed states.     

Quantum discord in non-Markovian environments

The quantum discord dynamics of two qubits in two independent non-Markovian reservoirs has been investigated. On the condition of resonant interactions, the result shows that the quantum discord has the phenomenon of “revival”. What is more, even in the region where the entanglement is zero, the quantum discord still can reveal the quantum correlations between the two qubits. Considering the detuning, it is interesting to note that the quantum discord can be preserved when the non-Markovian and the detuning conditions are satisfied simultaneously. Finally, an intuitive physical interpretation has been given by the quasimode approach.     

Dynamics of quantum discord in two Tavis-Cummings models with classical driving fields

We investigate the dynamics of quantum discord in a system consisting of two Tavis-Cummings models, each of which contains two atoms driven by a classical field. We compare the dynamics of quantum discord for the system with that of entanglement and show that quantum discord vanishes only asymptotically although entanglement disappears suddenly during the time evolution. Furthermore, we examine the influence of the initial states and the classical field on the discord dynamics and find that the value of quantum discord can be improved by adjusting the classical driving field. Finally, the quantum discord of two atoms in dissipative cavity is also discussed.     

The effect and control on remaining the quantum correlation by the coupling symmetry between qubits and the bath

We study the dynamic evolution of quantum correlation of two interacting coupled qubits system in non-Markov environment, and quantify the quantum correlation using concurrence and quantum discord. We find that although both of them are physical quantities which measure the system characteristics of the quantum correlations, the quantum discord is more robust than concurrence, since it can keep a positive value even when the ESD happens. The quantum correlation of quantum system not only depends on the initial state but also strongly depends on the coupling ways between qubits and environment. For the given initial state, by keeping the coupling between qubits and environment in completely symmetric, we can completely avoid the effect the decoherence influenced on the quantum correlation and effectively prolong the survival time of quantum discord and concurrence. We also find that the stronger the interaction between qubits is, the more conducive the death of the quantum correlation is resisted.     

Modulation of entanglement and quantum discord for circuit cavity QED states

The paper investigates the dynamic evolution behaviors of entanglement and quantum discord of coupled superconducting qubits in circuit QED system. We put emphasis on the effects of cavity field quantum state on quantum entanglement and quantum correlations dynamic behaviors of coupling superconducting qubits. The results show that, (1) generally speaking, the entanglement will appear the death and new birth because of the interaction between qubits and cavity field, on the contrary, this phenomenon will not appear in quantum discord. (2) When the cavity field is in coherent state, the entanglement survival time is controlled by the average photon number. The more the average photon number is, the longer survival time of entanglement is prolonged. Thus it has the benefit of keeping quantum correlations. (3) When the cavity field is in squeezed state, the squeezed amplitude parameters have controlling effects on quantum correlations including entanglement and quantum discord. On the one hand, the increase of squeezed amplitude parameters can prolong the survival time of entanglement, on the other hand, with the increase of squeezed amplitude parameters, the robustness of quantum discord is more and more superior to concurrence and is more advantage to keep the system quantum correlations. The further study results show that the increase of the initial relative phase of coupling superconducting qubits can also keep the quantum correlations.     

Dynamics of quantum discord for two correlated qubits in two independent reservoirs at finite temperature

We investigate dynamics of quantum discord (QD) for two initially-correlated qubits in two independent Ohmic reservoirs at finite temperature. It is indicated that the QD changes from a constant regime to a decaying regime when the two qubits are initially prepared in X-type quantum states. In the QD constant regime, the initial QD can be preserved despite decoherence in the system. It is found that temperature difference between two reservoirs significantly affects the preservation duration (PD) of the initial QD. We show that it is possible to enhance the preservation duration by properly choosing system parameters of the two qubits and reservoir parameters. Physically, it is found that the PD of the QD can reflect the temperature inhomogeneity of the non-equilibrium system which consists of the two qubits and their reservoirs.     

Quantum correlation dynamics of two qubits in independent reservoirs with initial system-reservoir correlations

The dynamics of entanglement and quantum discord(QD) between two two-level atoms interacting with two dissipative coupled cavities in the presence of initial atom-cavity correlations is investigated. In comparison with the result of the initial factorized state, we show that the initial state contained quantum correlation of atom-cavity is most robust against the dissipative environment, and the initial atom-cavity correlations, especially the quantum correlation, play a constructive role in the generation of atomic entanglement and QD.Simultaneously, the comparison between Markovian and non-Markovian dynamics, and the influences of inter-cavity hopping rate are also taken into account and analyzed.