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arXiv:2208.01698 · Physics Letters A

Contextuality and quantum discord

Asma Al-Qasimi

Published Jul 30, 2022• 3 citations
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Abstract

One of the defining differences between classical and quantum systems is how measurements affect them. Here, we compare the approaches of contextuality and quantum discord in capturing quantum correlations in special classes of two-qubit states, demonstrating that although non-discordant states are non-contextual, discordant states are not always contextual.

DOI
10.1016/j.physleta.2022.128347

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Comment on "Contextuality and quantum discord"

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In a paper, Al-Qasimi [Physics Letters A 449 (2022) 128347] proposed a criterion for contextuality of two-qubit systems extending Peres' proof of contextuality [Phys. Lett. A 151 (1990) 107]. Using this criterion, Al-Qasimi argued that certain discordant states can be contextual even if they are not entangled. Here I demonstrate that Al-Qasimi's criterion does not, in general, imply contextuality of two-qubit system. However, I point out that Al-Qasimi's criterion is related to a different notion of operational nonclassicality of discordant feature, which is inequivalent to contextuality. This nonclassicality beyond contextuality has been formalized in C. Jebarathinam and R. Srikanth [Int. J. Quantum Inf. 23 (2025) 2550037]. Identifying Al-Qasimi's criterion as demonstration of quantum correlation beyond contextuality, it then follows that Al-Qasimi's main conclusion that one cannot equate quantum correlation and discordant feature is made precise.

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Quantum discord witnesses the nonclassicality of quantum states even when there is no entanglement in these quantum states. This type of quantum correlation also has some interesting and significant applications in quantum information processing. Quantum discord has been evaluated explicitly only for a certain class of two-qubit states. We extend the previous studies to 2⊗ d quantum systems and derive analytical expressions for quantum discord, classical correlation and entanglement for a two-parameter class of states for d ⩾ 3. We compare quantum discord, classical correlation and entanglement for qubit–qutrit systems to demonstrate that different measures of quantum correlation are not identical and conceptually different.

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Quantum discord for two-qubit systems

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Quantum discord, as introduced by Olliver and Zurek [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 017901 (2001)], is a measure of the discrepancy between two natural yet different quantum analogs of the classical mutual information. This notion characterizes and quantifies quantumness of correlations in bipartite states from a measurement perspective, and is fundamentally different from the various entanglement measures in the entanglement vs separability paradigm. The phenomenon of nonzero quantum discord is a manifestation of quantum correlations due to noncommutativity rather than due to entanglement, and has interesting and significant applications in revealing the advantage of certain quantum tasks. We will evaluate analytically the quantum discord for a large family of two-qubit states, and make a comparative study of the relationships between classical and quantum correlations in terms of the quantum discord. We furthermore compare the quantum discord with the entanglement of formation, and illustrate that the latter may be larger than the former, although for separable states, the entanglement of formation always vanishes and thus is less than the quantum discord.

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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 quantum discord, this paper is devoted to compare it with quantum discord and measurement induced non-locality that is in some sense dual to the geometric quantum discord. As studying the quantum correlation experimentally is one of the important thing in quantum information processing, so as our example for illustrating the difference of geometric quantum discord, quantum discord and measurement induced non-locality, our quantum system is a dimer (two spin-1/2 particles) in multiple quantum nuclear magnetic resonance.

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Quantum correlation measurements for two qubits in a common squeezed bath

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"or many years the entangled systems have been associated to the quantum world, while the separable systems with the classical world. Recently quantum discord showed that some separable states posses quantum correlation even when the entanglement is zero. In this work, we compare different features of quantum discord and entanglement of formation for two qubits in a common squeezed reservoir. We relate the quantum correlations with the “distance” of our initial condition from the decoherence free subspace where the system is not affected by environment. While for some initial conditions, the entanglement presents sudden death and revival, quantum discord does not. Still, is not clear the relation between these two measurements of “quantumness”."

Revista Mexicana de Física•Jan 1, 2011•0 citations
One of the defining differences between classical and quantum systems is how measurements affect them. Here, we compare the approaches of contextuality and quantum discord in capturing quantum correlations in special classes of two-qubit states, demonstrating that although non-discordant states are non-contextual, discordant states are not always contextual.
In a paper, Al-Qasimi [Physics Letters A 449 (2022) 128347] proposed a criterion for contextuality of two-qubit systems extending Peres' proof of contextuality [Phys. Lett. A 151 (1990) 107]. Using this criterion, Al-Qasimi argued that certain discordant states can be contextual even if they are not entangled. Here I demonstrate that Al-Qasimi's criterion does not, in general, imply contextuality of two-qubit system. However, I point out that Al-Qasimi's criterion is related to a different notion of operational nonclassicality of discordant feature, which is inequivalent to contextuality. This nonclassicality beyond contextuality has been formalized in C. Jebarathinam and R. Srikanth [Int. J. Quantum Inf. 23 (2025) 2550037]. Identifying Al-Qasimi's criterion as demonstration of quantum correlation beyond contextuality, it then follows that Al-Qasimi's main conclusion that one cannot equate quantum correlation and discordant feature is made precise.
Quantum discord witnesses the nonclassicality of quantum states even when there is no entanglement in these quantum states. This type of quantum correlation also has some interesting and significant applications in quantum information processing. Quantum discord has been evaluated explicitly only for a certain class of two-qubit states. We extend the previous studies to 2⊗ d quantum systems and derive analytical expressions for quantum discord, classical correlation and entanglement for a two-parameter class of states for d ⩾ 3. We compare quantum discord, classical correlation and entanglement for qubit–qutrit systems to demonstrate that different measures of quantum correlation are not identical and conceptually different.
Quantum discord, a kind of quantum correlation, is defined as the difference between quantum mutual information and classical correlation in a bipartite system. In general, this correlation is different from entanglement, and quantum discord may be nonzero even for certain separable states. Even in the simple case of bipartite quantum systems, this different kind of quantum correlation has interesting and significant applications in quantum information processing. So far, quantum discord has been calculated explicitly only for a rather limited set of two-qubit quantum states and expressions for more general quantum states are not known. In this article, we derive explicit expressions for quantum discord for a larger class of two-qubit states, namely, a seven-parameter family of so called XXX states that have been of interest in a variety of contexts in the field. We also study the relation between quantum discord, classical correlation, and entanglement for a number of two-qubit states to demonstrate that they are independent measures of correlation with no simple relative ordering between them.
Quantum discord, as introduced by Olliver and Zurek [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 017901 (2001)], is a measure of the discrepancy between two natural yet different quantum analogs of the classical mutual information. This notion characterizes and quantifies quantumness of correlations in bipartite states from a measurement perspective, and is fundamentally different from the various entanglement measures in the entanglement vs separability paradigm. The phenomenon of nonzero quantum discord is a manifestation of quantum correlations due to noncommutativity rather than due to entanglement, and has interesting and significant applications in revealing the advantage of certain quantum tasks. We will evaluate analytically the quantum discord for a large family of two-qubit states, and make a comparative study of the relationships between classical and quantum correlations in terms of the quantum discord. We furthermore compare the quantum discord with the entanglement of formation, and illustrate that the latter may be larger than the former, although for separable states, the entanglement of formation always vanishes and thus is less than the quantum discord.
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 quantum discord, this paper is devoted to compare it with quantum discord and measurement induced non-locality that is in some sense dual to the geometric quantum discord. As studying the quantum correlation experimentally is one of the important thing in quantum information processing, so as our example for illustrating the difference of geometric quantum discord, quantum discord and measurement induced non-locality, our quantum system is a dimer (two spin-1/2 particles) in multiple quantum nuclear magnetic resonance.
"or many years the entangled systems have been associated to the quantum world, while the separable systems with the classical world. Recently quantum discord showed that some separable states posses quantum correlation even when the entanglement is zero. In this work, we compare different features of quantum discord and entanglement of formation for two qubits in a common squeezed reservoir. We relate the quantum correlations with the “distance” of our initial condition from the decoherence free subspace where the system is not affected by environment. While for some initial conditions, the entanglement presents sudden death and revival, quantum discord does not. Still, is not clear the relation between these two measurements of “quantumness”."