Sudden transition between classical and quantum decoherence

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamics of quantum and classical correlations under nondissipative decoherence, revealing a sudden transition from classical to quantum decoherence at a specific time for certain initial states.

Contribution

It identifies initial states exhibiting a sudden transition between classical and quantum decoherence regimes, highlighting a new dynamical phenomenon in open quantum systems.

Findings

Quantum discord remains unaffected before transition time ar{t}

Classical correlations decay before ar{t} and remain constant afterward

A sudden transition in decoherence regimes occurs at ar{t}

Abstract

We study the dynamics of quantum and classical correlations in the presence of nondissipative decoherence. We discover a class of initial states for which the quantum correlations, quantified by the quantum discord, are not destroyed by decoherence for times t < \bar{t}. In this initial time interval classical correlations decay. For t > \bar{t}, on the other hand, classical correlations do not change in time and only quantum correlations are lost due to the interaction with the environment. Therefore, at the transition time \bar{t} the open system dynamics exhibits a sudden transition from classical to quantum decoherence regime.