We investigate how thermal quantum discord (QD) and classical correlations (CC) of a two-qubit one-dimensional XX Heisenberg chain in thermal equilibrium depend on the temperature of the bath as well as on nonuniform external magnetic fields applied to two qubits and varied separately. We show that the behavior of QD differs in many unexpected ways from the thermal entanglement (EOF). For the nonuniform case ( B 1 = − B 2 ), we find that QD and CC are equal for all values of ( B 1 = − B 2 ) and for different temperatures. We show that, in this case, the thermal states of the system belong to a class of mixed states and satisfy certain conditions under which QD and CC are equal. The specification of this class and the corresponding conditions are completely general and apply to any quantum system in a state in this class satisfying these conditions. We further find that the relative contributions of QD and CC can be controlled easily by changing the relative magnitudes of B 1 and B 2 . Finally, we connect our results with the monogamy relations between the EOF, CC and the QD of two qubits and the environment.
We investigate how thermal quantum discord (QD) and classical correlations (CC) of a two-qubit one-dimensional XX Heisenberg chain in thermal equilibrium depend on the temperature of the bath as well as on nonuniform external magnetic fields applied to two qubits and varied separately. We show that the behavior of QD differs in many unexpected ways from the thermal entanglement (EOF). For the nonuniform case ( B 1 = − B 2 ), we find that QD and CC are equal for all values of ( B 1 = − B 2 ) and for different temperatures. We show that, in this case, the thermal states of the system belong to a class of mixed states and satisfy certain conditions under which QD and CC are equal. The specification of this class and the corresponding conditions are completely general and apply to any quantum system in a state in this class satisfying these conditions. We further find that the relative contributions of QD and CC can be controlled easily by changing the relative magnitudes of B 1 and B 2 . Finally, we connect our results with the monogamy relations between the EOF, CC and the QD of two qubits and the environment.
We investigate how quantum correlations [quantum discord (QD)] of a two-qubit one-dimensional XYZ Heisenberg chain in thermal equilibrium depend on the temperature T of the bath and also on an external magnetic field B. We show that the behavior of thermal QD differs in many unexpected ways from 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 tuning B or the interaction between the qubits we get nonzero QD for any T and we present an effect not seen for entanglement, the ``regrowth'' of thermal QD.
The thermal quantum discord (QD) is investigated in the two-qubit anisotropic Heisenberg XXZ model under an external non-uniform magnetic field along the Z-axis. We obtain the analytical expressions of the thermal QD and thermal entanglement measured by concurrence (C). It shows that for any temperature T, QD gradually decreases with the increase of non-uniform magnetic field |b|, in some regions where C increases while QD decreases. It is also found that thermal quantum discord does not vanish at finite temperatures, but concurrence vanishes completely at a critical temperature. It is shown that for a higher value of JZ, the system has a stronger QD. There is a critical magnetic field B c , which increases with the increasing b. QD decay monotonically (for B < B c ) when temperature T increases, or initially increases to some peaks and then decrease (for B > B c ).
The characterization of quantum discord (QD) has been well understood only for two-qubit states and is little known for mixed states beyond qubits. In this work, thermal quantum discord is studied for a qutrit system in different magnetic fields, where classical correlation and entanglement negativity are calculated for comparison. It is shown that the discord is more robust against temperature than the negativity. For a suitable region of magnetic field and its direction, the discord is non-zero while the negativity is zero. When the system is at a lower temperature, these three quantities, however, display a similar behavior for the varied field and direction, and their discontinuities come from crossovers between different ground states in the system. Moreover, the inequality between the quantum and classical correlations depends upon the system parameters as well as the temperature. In particular, both correlations are equal at a suitable field, direction, and temperature. Remarkably, such an equality remains for a strong field in the antiparallel direction, while both correlations in two-qubit systems are identical for any antiparallel field and temperature. These are useful for quantum information and understanding quantum correlations in qutrit mixed states.
Two kinds of thermal quantum correlations, measured respectively by quantum discord (QD) and the generalized negativity (GN), are studied for various magnetic fields, couplings, and temperatures in a two-qubit Heisenberg XYZ model. It is shown that QD and GN can exhibit a similar behavior in some regions of magnetic field, coupling, and temperature, while they behave in a contrary manner in other regions. For example, QD may increase with suitable magnetic fields, couplings, and temperature when GN decreases. QD is more robust against temperature than GN, and can reveal a kink at a suitable coupling at finite temperature while GN cannot. Moreover, a nearly unchanged QD or GN can be obtained in a large region of magnetic field, coupling, and temperature. These adjustable QD and GN via the varied magnetic field, coupling, and temperature may have significant applications in quantum information processing.
Abstract The thermal quantum correlations in a two-qubit one-dimensional XXZ Heisenberg spin- 1 2 chain subjected to an inhomogeneous magnetic field are investigated. The concurrence, as thermal entanglement quantifier, and the discord-like quantifiers, namely the trace distance discord and local quantum uncertainty, are computed. Their dependence on the anisotropy parameter γ , uniform magnetic field B , coupling constant J and nonuniform magnetic field b are presented in detail. The mentioned quantifiers behaviors in terms of this parameters are compared and discussed. The results show that TDD is always much stronger than the concurrence and LQU, whereas the latter two show a swinging behavior depending on system parameters. Also, we have shown that the nonuniform magnetic field can reduce the effects of temperature on thermal correlations. Furthermore, the thermal correlations, for fixed values of b , can be enhanced in the antiferromagnetic system in comparison to the ferromagnetic one. In addition, the quantum correlations amounts in the ferromagnetic system are deteriorated when γ decreases, but they are improved when the system is antiferromagnetic.
In contrast with the thermal entanglement, we study the quantum discord and classical correlation in a two-qubit Heisenberg XXZ model with an inhomogeneous magnetic field. It is shown that the effects of the external magnetic fields, including the uniform and inhomogeneous magnetic fields, on the thermal entanglement, quantum discord and classical correlation behave differently in various aspects, which depend on system temperature and model type. We can tune the inhomogeneous magnetic field to enhance the entanglement or classical correlation and meanwhile decrease the quantum discord. In addition, taking into account the inhomogeneous magnetic field, the sudden change in the behaviour of quantum discord still survives, which can detect the critical points of quantum phase transitions at finite temperature, but not for a uniform magnetic field.