A fundamental problem in quantum information is to explore the roles of
different quantum correlations in a quantum information procedure. Recent work
[Phys. Rev. Lett., 107 (2011) 080401] shows that the protocol for assisted
optimal state discrimination (AOSD) may be implemented successfully without
entanglement, but with another correlation, quantum dissonance. However, both
the original work and the extension to discrimination of d states [Phys. Rev.
A, 85 (2012) 022328] have only proved that entanglement can be absent in the
case with equal a \emph{priori} probabilities. By improving the protocol in
[Sci. Rep., 3 (2013) 2134], we investigate this topic in a simple case to
discriminate three nonorthogonal states of a qutrit, with positive real
overlaps. In our procedure, the entanglement between the qutrit and an
auxiliary qubit is found to be completely unnecessary. This result shows that
the quantum dissonance may play as a key role in optimal state discrimination
assisted by a qubit for more general cases.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Accepted by EPL. We extended the protocol for
assisted optimal state discrimination to the case with positive real
overlaps, and presented a proof for the absence of entanglemen
