Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:0910.1396 · Science

Sudden Death of Entanglement

Ting Yu, Joseph H. Eberly

Published Jan 29, 2009• 1,096 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A new development in the dynamical behavior of elementary quantum systems is the surprising discovery that correlation between two quantum units of information called qubits can be degraded by environmental noise in a way not seen previously in studies of dissipation. This new route for dissipation attacks quantum entanglement, the essential resource for quantum information as well as the central feature in the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen so-called paradox and in discussions of the fate of Schrödinger's cat. The effect has been labeled ESD, which stands for early-stage disentanglement or, more frequently, entanglement sudden death. We review recent progress in studies focused on this phenomenon.

DOI
10.1126/science.1167343

Related papers

Manipulation of entanglement sudden death in an all-optical setup

Ashutosh Singh, Siva T. Pradyumna, A. R. P. Rau +1 more

The unavoidable and irreversible interaction between an entangled quantum system and its environment causes decoherence of the individual qubits as well as degradation of the entanglement between them. Entanglement sudden death (ESD) is the phenomenon wherein disentanglement happens in finite time even when individual qubits decohere only asymptotically in time due to noise. Prolonging the entanglement is essential for the practical realization of entanglement-based quantum information and computation protocols. For this purpose, the local NOT operation in the computational basis on one or both qubits has been proposed. Here, we formulate an all-optical experimental setup involving such NOT operations that can hasten, delay, or completely avert ESD, all depending on when it is applied during the process of decoherence. Analytical expressions for these are derived in terms of parameters of the initial state’s density matrix, whether for pure or mixed entangled states. After a discussion of the schematics of the experiment, the problem is theoretically analyzed, and simulation results of such manipulations of ESD are presented.

arXiv:1703.01159•Journal of the Optical Society of America B•Feb 27, 2017•20 citations

Experimental demonstration of entanglement sudden death induced by natural dissipation

Yan Wang, Hao-Long Zhang, Jia-Hao Lü +5 more

Any quantum system inevitably interacts with its natural environment, which can be modeled as a Markovian reservoir consisting of a continuum of electromagnetic field modes. The quantum coherence of qubits in a zero-temperature natural reservoir decays asymptotically, whereas the quantum entanglement of two qubits coupled to such reservoirs may disappear in a finite time. This phenomenon, referred to as entanglement sudden death (ESD), has been simulated with artificially engineered dissipative channels, but ESD induced by natural dissipative channels has not been confirmed. We here present the first demonstration of natural-dissipation-induced ESD for two photonic qubits, each stored in a leaky resonator of a superconducting circuit. The disentanglement dynamics of the two photonic qubits is monitored with two ancilla superconducting qubits, which can be controllably coupled to the corresponding leaky resonators. The techniques developed in our experiment pave the way for experimental exploration of entanglement dynamics in natural environments.

quant-pharXiv:2607.08078•Jul 10, 2026•0 citations

Evolution from entanglement to decoherence

Tianbao Yu, Joseph H. Eberly

We examine a class of bipartite mixed states which we call X states and report several analytic results related to the occurrence of early-stage decoherence or so-called entanglement sudden death (ESD) under time evolution in the presence of common types of environmental noise. Avoidance of sudden death by application of purely local operations is shown to be feasible in some cases.

Quantum Information and Computation•Jul 1, 2007•175 citations

Decoherence-Induced Sudden Death of Entanglement and Bell Nonlocality

Dong-Gil Im, Yoon-Ho Kim

Decoherence due to the unwanted interaction between a quantum system and environment leads to the degradation of quantum coherence. In particular, for an entangled state, decoherence makes a loss of entanglement and Bell nonlocality known as entanglement sudden death (ESD), and Bell nonlocality sudden death (BNSD). Here, we theoretically investigate the entanglement and Bell nonlocality of a bipartite entangled state under three types of decoherence, amplitude damping, phase damping, and depolarizing. Our result provides the bound of decoherence strength that does not lose the entanglement and Bell nonlocality. In addition, we find two interesting features. One is that the entanglement can survive even though one of the entangled qubits is affected by a large strength of decoherence if the other qubit is affected by a small enough strength of decoherence except for the depolarizing. The second one is that when a specific form of entangled state is under amplitude damping, the Bell nonlocality shows an asymmetric behavior respect to the decoherence strengths on each qubit. Our work provides comprehensive information on ESD and BNSD for the bipartite entangled state which will be useful to implement quantum information processing in the presence of decoherence.

Photonics•Jan 24, 2022•6 citations

Quantum error correction may delay, but also cause, entanglement sudden death

Isabel Sainz, Gunnar G. Bjork

Dissipation may cause two initially entangled qubits to evolve into a separable state in a finite time. This behavior is called entanglement sudden death (ESD). We study to what extent quantum error correction can combat ESD. We find that in some cases quantum error correction can delay entanglement sudden death but in other cases quantum error correction may cause ESD for states that otherwise do not suffer from it. Our analysis also shows that fidelity may not be the best measure to compare the efficiency of different error correction codes since the fidelity is not directly coupled to a state's remaining entanglement.

arXiv:0803.0406•Physical Review A•May 7, 2008•47 citations

Open quantum system dynamics of X-states: Entanglement sudden death and sudden birth

Nikhitha Nunavath, Sandeep Mishra, Anirban Pathak

In this paper, the origin of disentanglement for two specific sub-classes of [Formula: see text]-states namely maximally nonlocal mixed states (MNMSs) and maximally entangled mixed states (MEMSs) is investigated analytically for a physical system consisting of two spatially separated qubits interacting with a common vacuum bath. The phenomena of entanglement sudden death (ESD) and the entanglement sudden birth (ESB) are observed, but the characteristics of ESD and ESB are found to be different for the case of two-photon coherence and single photon coherence states. The role played by initial coherence for the underlying entanglement dynamics is investigated. Further, the entanglement dynamics of MNMSs and MEMSs under different environmental noises namely phase damping, amplitude damping and random telegraph noise (RTN) noise with respect to the decay and revival of entanglement is analyzed. It is observed that the single photon coherence states are more robust against the sudden death of entanglement, indicating the usability of such states in the development of technologies for the practical implementation of quantum information processing tasks.

arXiv:2209.11190•Modern Physics Letters A•Apr 30, 2023•5 citations
A new development in the dynamical behavior of elementary quantum systems is the surprising discovery that correlation between two quantum units of information called qubits can be degraded by environmental noise in a way not seen previously in studies of dissipation. This new route for dissipation attacks quantum entanglement, the essential resource for quantum information as well as the central feature in the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen so-called paradox and in discussions of the fate of Schrödinger's cat. The effect has been labeled ESD, which stands for early-stage disentanglement or, more frequently, entanglement sudden death. We review recent progress in studies focused on this phenomenon.
The unavoidable and irreversible interaction between an entangled quantum system and its environment causes decoherence of the individual qubits as well as degradation of the entanglement between them. Entanglement sudden death (ESD) is the phenomenon wherein disentanglement happens in finite time even when individual qubits decohere only asymptotically in time due to noise. Prolonging the entanglement is essential for the practical realization of entanglement-based quantum information and computation protocols. For this purpose, the local NOT operation in the computational basis on one or both qubits has been proposed. Here, we formulate an all-optical experimental setup involving such NOT operations that can hasten, delay, or completely avert ESD, all depending on when it is applied during the process of decoherence. Analytical expressions for these are derived in terms of parameters of the initial state’s density matrix, whether for pure or mixed entangled states. After a discussion of the schematics of the experiment, the problem is theoretically analyzed, and simulation results of such manipulations of ESD are presented.
Any quantum system inevitably interacts with its natural environment, which can be modeled as a Markovian reservoir consisting of a continuum of electromagnetic field modes. The quantum coherence of qubits in a zero-temperature natural reservoir decays asymptotically, whereas the quantum entanglement of two qubits coupled to such reservoirs may disappear in a finite time. This phenomenon, referred to as entanglement sudden death (ESD), has been simulated with artificially engineered dissipative channels, but ESD induced by natural dissipative channels has not been confirmed. We here present the first demonstration of natural-dissipation-induced ESD for two photonic qubits, each stored in a leaky resonator of a superconducting circuit. The disentanglement dynamics of the two photonic qubits is monitored with two ancilla superconducting qubits, which can be controllably coupled to the corresponding leaky resonators. The techniques developed in our experiment pave the way for experimental exploration of entanglement dynamics in natural environments.
Decoherence due to the unwanted interaction between a quantum system and environment leads to the degradation of quantum coherence. In particular, for an entangled state, decoherence makes a loss of entanglement and Bell nonlocality known as entanglement sudden death (ESD), and Bell nonlocality sudden death (BNSD). Here, we theoretically investigate the entanglement and Bell nonlocality of a bipartite entangled state under three types of decoherence, amplitude damping, phase damping, and depolarizing. Our result provides the bound of decoherence strength that does not lose the entanglement and Bell nonlocality. In addition, we find two interesting features. One is that the entanglement can survive even though one of the entangled qubits is affected by a large strength of decoherence if the other qubit is affected by a small enough strength of decoherence except for the depolarizing. The second one is that when a specific form of entangled state is under amplitude damping, the Bell nonlocality shows an asymmetric behavior respect to the decoherence strengths on each qubit. Our work provides comprehensive information on ESD and BNSD for the bipartite entangled state which will be useful to implement quantum information processing in the presence of decoherence.
Dissipation may cause two initially entangled qubits to evolve into a separable state in a finite time. This behavior is called entanglement sudden death (ESD). We study to what extent quantum error correction can combat ESD. We find that in some cases quantum error correction can delay entanglement sudden death but in other cases quantum error correction may cause ESD for states that otherwise do not suffer from it. Our analysis also shows that fidelity may not be the best measure to compare the efficiency of different error correction codes since the fidelity is not directly coupled to a state's remaining entanglement.
In this paper, the origin of disentanglement for two specific sub-classes of [Formula: see text]-states namely maximally nonlocal mixed states (MNMSs) and maximally entangled mixed states (MEMSs) is investigated analytically for a physical system consisting of two spatially separated qubits interacting with a common vacuum bath. The phenomena of entanglement sudden death (ESD) and the entanglement sudden birth (ESB) are observed, but the characteristics of ESD and ESB are found to be different for the case of two-photon coherence and single photon coherence states. The role played by initial coherence for the underlying entanglement dynamics is investigated. Further, the entanglement dynamics of MNMSs and MEMSs under different environmental noises namely phase damping, amplitude damping and random telegraph noise (RTN) noise with respect to the decay and revival of entanglement is analyzed. It is observed that the single photon coherence states are more robust against the sudden death of entanglement, indicating the usability of such states in the development of technologies for the practical implementation of quantum information processing tasks.