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arXiv:1901.11514 · Physical Review A

How to observe and quantify quantum-discord states via correlations

Matthew A. Hunt, Igor V. Lerner, I. V. Yurkevich, Yuval Gefen

Published Aug 16, 2019• 14 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Quantum correlations between parts of a composite system most clearly reveal themselves through entanglement. Designing, maintaining, and controlling entangled systems is very demanding, which raises the stakes for understanding the efficacy of entanglement-free, yet quantum correlations, exemplified by quantum discord. Discord is defined via conditional mutual entropies of parts of a composite system and its direct measurement is hardly possible even via full tomographic characterization of the system state. Here we design a simple protocol to detect and quantify quantum discord in an unentangled bipartite system. Our protocol relies on a characteristic of discord that can be extracted from repeated direct measurements of certain correlations between subsystems of the bipartite system. The proposed protocol opens a way of extending experimental studies of discord to electronic systems, but can also be implemented in quantum-optical systems.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.100.022321

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Quantum correlations between parts of a composite system most clearly reveal themselves through entanglement. Designing, maintaining, and controlling entangled systems is very demanding, which raises the stakes for understanding the efficacy of entanglement-free, yet quantum correlations, exemplified by quantum discord. Discord is defined via conditional mutual entropies of parts of a composite system and its direct measurement is hardly possible even via full tomographic characterization of the system state. Here we design a simple protocol to detect and quantify quantum discord in an unentangled bipartite system. Our protocol relies on a characteristic of discord that can be extracted from repeated direct measurements of certain correlations between subsystems of the bipartite system. The proposed protocol opens a way of extending experimental studies of discord to electronic systems, but can also be implemented in quantum-optical systems.
Like entanglement, quantum discord quantifies the quantum correlations. Unlike entanglement, whose detection is extremely difficult, the quantum discord of an arbitrary bipartite state allows itself to be detected perfectly by a single observable, the quantum discord witness. In particular, we report a single observable whose expectation value provides a necessary and sufficient condition for the vanishing quantum discord of an arbitrary bipartite unknown state with four copies. A quantum circuit is designed to measure the quantum discord witness by using only local qubit-measurements.
Measurements of quantum systems disturb their states. To quantify this nonclassical characteristic, Zurek and Ollivier [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 017901 (2001)] introduced the quantum discord, a quantum correlation that 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 the 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. We also identify the states for which discord takes a maximal value for a given entropy or entanglement, thus placing strong bounds on entanglement-discord and entropy-discord relations. We find out that although discord and entanglement are identical for pure states, they differ when generalized to mixed states as a result of the difference in the method of generalization.
Quantum correlations in composite and separable quantum systems are characterized by non-vanishing quantum discord. We demonstrate the necessary and sufficient conditions for existence of hermitian witness operators for quantum discord, bypassing the problem of non-convexity of the set of all classical states. We propose an example of a linear witness which can detect quantum correlations in large classes of separable bipartite systems. Decomposition of the witness in terms of a small number of locally measurable operators as shown here, paves the way for experimental detection of quantum correlations beyond entanglement.
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 discord takes a maximal value for a given entropy or entanglement, thus placing strong bounds on entanglement-discord and entropy-discord relations. We find out that although discord and entanglement are identical for pure states, they differ when generalized to mixed states as a result of the difference in the method of generalization.
Coherent interactions that generate negligible entanglement can still exhibit unique quantum behaviour. This observation has motivated a search beyond entanglement for a complete description of all quantum correlations. Quantum discord is a promising candidate. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that under certain measurement constraints, discord between bipartite systems can be consumed to encode information that can only be accessed by coherent quantum interactions. The inability to access this information by any other means allows us to use discord to directly quantify this ‘quantum advantage’.
Quantum discord is a measure of nonclassical correlations in quantum systems. While the bipartite version of quantum discord is experimentally well-studied, the multipartite version has never been convincingly measured. In this study, we experimentally investigate tripartite quantum discord using an NMR quantum information processor. Building on a theoretical framework for conditional projective measurements and quantum conditional mutual information, we quantify the tripartite quantum discord and its contributions in different three-qubit states such as the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) and Werner (W) states as well as classical mixtures of biseparable Bell states, and classical mixtures of product states. The experiments employed full quantum state tomography and temporal averaging to prepare mixed states, achieving fidelities exceeding 95%. Our results confirm that quantum discord persists even in the absence of entanglement, highlighting its utility as a broader indicator of quantum correlations. Furthermore, we validate the nonconvexity of discord, confirming that classical mixtures of zero-discord states can exhibit nonzero discord. This experimentally confirms that quantum discord does not fit into the framework of resource theory. This work establishes a robust methodology for measuring quantum discord, illuminating the structure and distribution of quantum correlations in multipartite systems.