No Arabic abstract
Correlations in quantum systems exhibit a rich phenomenology under the effect of various sources of noise. We investigate theoretically and experimentally the dynamics of quantum correlations and their classical counterparts in two nuclear magnetic resonance setups, as measured by geometric quantifiers based on trace-norm. We consider two-qubit systems prepared in Bell diagonal states, and perform the experiments in decohering environments resulting from Bell diagonal-preserving Markovian local noise. We then report the first observation of environment-induced double sudden transitions in the geometric quantum correlations, a genuinely nonclassical effect not observable in classical correlations. The evolution of classical correlations in our physical implementation reveals in turn the finite-time relaxation to a pointer basis under nondissipative decoherence, which we characterize geometrically in full analogy with predictions based on entropic measures.
Non-classical correlations play a crucial role in the development of quantum information science. The recent discovery that non-classical correlations can be present even in separable (unentangled) states has broadened this scenario. This generalized quantum correlation has been increasing relevance in several fields, among them quantum communication, quantum computation, quantum phase transitions, and biological systems. We demonstrate here the occurrence of the sudden-change phenomenon and immunity against some sources of noise for the quantum discord and its classical counterpart, in a room temperature nuclear magnetic resonance setup. The experiment is performed in a decohering environment causing loss of phase relations among the energy eigenstates and exchange of energy between system and environment, resulting in relaxation to a Gibbs ensemble.
Dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) extend the concept of phase transitions and thus universality to the non-equilibrium regime. In this letter, we investigate DQPTs in a string of ions simulating interacting transverse-field Ising models. We observe non-equilibrium dynamics induced by a quantum quench and show for strings of up to 10 ions the direct detection of DQPTs by measuring a quantity that becomes non-analytic in time in the thermodynamic limit. Moreover, we provide a link between DQPTs and the dynamics of other relevant quantities such as the magnetization, and we establish a connection between DQPTs and entanglement production.
In the context of nonequilibrium quantum thermodynamics, variables like work behave stochastically. A particular definition of the work probability density function (pdf) for coherent quantum processes allows the verification of the quantum version of the celebrated fluctuation theorems, due to Jarzynski and Crooks, that apply when the system is driven away from an initial equilibrium thermal state. Such a particular pdf depends basically on the details of the initial and final Hamiltonians, on the temperature of the initial thermal state and on how some external parameter is changed during the coherent process. Using random matrix theory we derive a simple analytic expression that describes the general behavior of the work characteristic function $G(u)$, associated with this particular work pdf for sudden quenches, valid for all the traditional Gaussian ensembles of Hamiltonians matrices. This formula well describes the general behavior of $G(u)$ calculated from single draws of the initial and final Hamiltonians in all ranges of temperatures.
We report on the existence of the phenomenon of sudden birth of maximal hidden quantum correlations in open quantum systems. Specifically, we consider the CHSH-inequality for Bell-nonlocality, the $rm F_3$-inequality for EPR-steering, and usefulness for teleportation as quantum correlations in a bipartite qubit system under collective decoherence due to an environment. We show that, even though the system may undergo a sudden birth of entanglement, neither of the aforementioned correlations are present and yet, these can still be revealed by means of local filtering operations, thus evidencing the presence of hidden quantum correlations. Furthermore, there are extrem
We provide an historical perspective of how the notion of correlations has evolved within quantum physics. We begin by reviewing Shannons information theory and its first application in quantum physics, due to Everett, in explaining the information conveyed during a quantum measurement. This naturally leads us to Lindblads information theoretic analysis of quantum measurements and his emphasis of the difference between the classical and quantum mutual information. After briefly summarising the quantification of entanglement using these and related ideas, we arrive at the concept of quantum discord that naturally captures the boundary between entanglement and classical correlations. Finally we discuss possible links between discord and the generation of correlations in thermodynamic transformations of coupled harmonic oscillators.