Decoherence arises from the interaction of a quantum system with the environment or, more precisely, from the measurement in which the environment ``measures'' the quantum system and establishes correlations with it. In this work, we first quantify measurement-induced correlations from both classical and quantum perspectives. Then we quantify decoherence via measurement-induced classical correlations. By virtue of an intrinsic and powerful link between entanglement (as quantified by entanglement of formation) and classical correlations (as quantified by the difference between the total correlations and quantum discord) in pure tripartite systems, we present general analytical formulas for measurement-induced correlations and decoherence measures for qubit systems and, furthermore, reveal a conservation relation for the information-disturbance tradeoff.
Decoherence arises from the interaction of a quantum system with the environment or, more precisely, from the measurement in which the environment ``measures'' the quantum system and establishes correlations with it. In this work, we first quantify measurement-induced correlations from both classical and quantum perspectives. Then we quantify decoherence via measurement-induced classical correlations. By virtue of an intrinsic and powerful link between entanglement (as quantified by entanglement of formation) and classical correlations (as quantified by the difference between the total correlations and quantum discord) in pure tripartite systems, we present general analytical formulas for measurement-induced correlations and decoherence measures for qubit systems and, furthermore, reveal a conservation relation for the information-disturbance tradeoff.
We built a new set of suitable measures of correlations for bipartite quantum states based upon a recently introduced theoretical framework [Bussandri et al. in Quantum Inf. Proc. 18:57, 2019]. We applied these measures to examine the behavior of correlations in two-qubit states with maximally mixed marginals independently interacting with non-dissipative decohering environments in different dynamical scenarios of physical relevance. In order to get further insight about the physical meaning of the behavior of these correlation measures we compared our results with those obtained by means of well-known correlation measures such as quantum mutual information and quantum discord. On one hand, we found that the behaviors of total and classical correlations, as assessed by means of the measures introduced in this work, are qualitatively in agreement with the behavior displayed by quantum mutual information and the measure of classical correlations typically used to calculate quantum discord. We also found that the optimization of all the measures of classical correlations depends upon a single parameter and the optimal value of this parameter turns out to be the same in all cases. On the other hand, regarding the measures of quantum correlations used in our studies, we found that in general their behavior does not follow the standard quantum discord D . As the quantification by means of standard quantum discord and the measures of quantum correlations introduced in this work depends upon the assumption that total correlations are additive, our results indicate that this property needs a deeper and systematic study in order to gain a further understanding regarding the possibility to obtain reliable quantifiers of quantum correlations within this additive scheme.
As a direct consequence of the interplay between the superposition principle of quantum mechanics and the dynamics of open systems, decoherence is a recurring theme in both foundational and experimental exploration of the quantum realm. Decoherence is intimately related to information leakage of open systems and is usually formulated in the setup of "system + environment" as information acquisition of the environment (observer) from the system. As such, it has been mainly characterized via correlations (e.g., quantum mutual information, discord, and entanglement). Decoherence combined with redundant proliferation of the system information to multiple fragments of environment yields the scenario of quantum Darwinism, which is now a widely recognized framework for addressing the quantum-to-classical transition: the emergence of the apparent classical reality from the enigmatic quantum substrate. Despite the half-century development of the notion of decoherence, there are still many aspects awaiting investigations. In this work, we introduce two quantifiers of classicality via the Jordan product and uncertainty, respectively, and then employ them to quantify decoherence from an information-theoretic perspective. As a comparison, we also study the influence of the system on the environment.
Quantum discord, a measure of quantum correlation beyond entanglement, is initially defined as the discord between two classically equivalent while quantum discordant definitions of mutual information. In this paper, we report some new interpretations of discord which rely on the differences between measurement-induced effects on the local measured system and the whole system. Specifically, with proper quantitative definitions introduced in Buscemi et al (2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 210504), we find that quantum discord can be interpreted as the differences of measurement-induced disturbance or information gain on the local measured system and on the whole system. Combined with previous similar results based on measurement-induced entanglement and decoherence, our results provide a unified view on quantum discord.
Abstract Quantum information theory is built upon the realisation that quantum resources like coherence and entanglement can be exploited for novel or enhanced ways of transmitting and manipulating information, such as quantum cryptography, teleportation, and quantum computing. We now know that there is potentially much more than entanglement behind the power of quantum information processing. There exist more general forms of non-classical correlations, stemming from fundamental principles such as the necessary disturbance induced by a local measurement, or the persistence of quantum coherence in all possible local bases. These signatures can be identified and are resilient in almost all quantum states, and have been linked to the enhanced performance of certain quantum protocols over classical ones in noisy conditions. Their presence represents, among other things, one of the most essential manifestations of quantumness in cooperative systems, from the subatomic to the macroscopic domain. In this work we give an overview of the current quest for a proper understanding and characterisation of the frontier between classical and quantum correlations (QCs) in composite states. We focus on various approaches to define and quantify general QCs, based on different yet interlinked physical perspectives, and comment on the operational significance of the ensuing measures for quantum technology tasks such as information encoding, distribution, discrimination and metrology. We then provide a broader outlook of a few applications in which quantumness beyond entanglement looks fit to play a key role.
Macroscopic behavior such as the lack of interference patterns has been attributed to ``decoherence,'' a word with several possible definitions such as (1) the loss of off-diagonal density matrix elements, (2) the flow of information to the environment, (3) the loss of complementary information, and (4) the loss of the ability to create entanglement in a measurement. In this article, we attempt to unify these distinct definitions by providing general quantitative connections between them, valid for all finite-dimensional quantum systems or quantum processes. The most important application of our results is to the understanding of quantum discord, a measure of the nonclassicality of the correlations between quantum systems. We show that some popular measures of discord measure the information missing from the purifying system and hence quantify security, which can be stated operationally in terms of distillable secure bits. The results also give some strategies for constructing discord measures.
Decoherence, interpreted broadly, is essentially the leakage of system information into the environment and is often accompanied by dissipation. The basic questions arise: how to quantify decoherence induced by an operation and how to quantitatively compare decoherence induced by different operations. In this paper, based on a joint ancilla-system-environment tripartite purification for the initial system state and the operation, and by exploiting the intrinsic relations between the loss of correlations in the ancilla--system and the correlations established in the system-environment, we characterize and quantify decoherence from a decorrelating perspective. For this purpose, we first address the issue of separating and quantifying the classical and quantum parts of decorrelation. By use of the canonical isomorphism between operations and bipartite states, we propose two intrinsic decorrelation measures: One is the classical decorrelation based on the loss of classical correlations, and the other is the quantum decorrelation based on the loss of quantum correlations. With the help of quantum decorrelation, we introduce an intuitive measure of (quantum) decoherence. We further employ these informational quantities to analyze some widely used channels such as the complete decoherent channel, the depolarizing channel, the bit-flip channel, the transpose depolarizing channel, the amplitude damping channel, and the phase damping channel. Our analysis illustrates the intriguing interplay between classical and quantum decorrelations and sheds some light on the informational nature of decoherence.