Global Quantum Discord in Multipartite Systems

We propose a global measure for quantum correlations in multipartite systems, which is obtained by suitably recasting the quantum discord in terms of relative entropy and local von Neumann measurements. The measure is symmetric with respect to subsystem exchange and is shown to be non-negative for an arbitrary state. As an illustration, we consider tripartite correlations in the Werner-GHZ state and multipartite correlations at quantum criticality. In particular, in contrast with the pairwise quantum discord, we show that the global quantum discord is able to characterize the infinite-order quantum phase transition in the Ashkin-Teller spin chain.Comment: v3: 7 pages, 6 figures. Published versio

Monogamy of Quantum Discord by Multipartite Correlations

We introduce a monogamy inequality for quantum correlations, which implies that the sum of pairwise quantum correlations is upper limited by the amount of multipartite quantum correlations as measured by the global quantum discord. This monogamy bound holds either for pure or mixed quantum states provided that bipartite quantum discord does not increase under discard of subsystems. We illustrate the monogamy behavior for multipartite pure states with Schmidt decomposition as well as for W-GHZ mixed states. As a by-product, we apply the monogamy bound to investigate residual multipartite correlations.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. v2: published versio

The sudden change phenomenon of quantum discord

Even if the parameters determining a system's state are varied smoothly, the behavior of quantum correlations alike to quantum discord, and of its classical counterparts, can be very peculiar, with the appearance of non-analyticities in its rate of change. Here we review this sudden change phenomenon (SCP) discussing some important points related to it: Its uncovering, interpretations, and experimental verifications, its use in the context of the emergence of the pointer basis in a quantum measurement process, its appearance and universality under Markovian and non-Markovian dynamics, its theoretical and experimental investigation in some other physical scenarios, and the related phenomenon of double sudden change of trace distance discord. Several open questions are identified, and we envisage that in answering them we will gain significant further insight about the relation between the SCP and the symmetry-geometric aspects of the quantum state space.Comment: Lectures on General Quantum Correlations and their Applications, F. F. Fanchini, D. O. Soares Pinto, and G. Adesso (Eds.), Springer (2017), pp 309-33