Landau-type sudden transitions of quantum correlations

Abstract

Sudden changes of quantum correlations in the Bell-diagonal states are well-known effects. They occur when the set of optimal parameters that determine the quantum correlation consists of isolated points and optimal parameters during the evolution of the system jump from one such point to another (e.g., the optimal measurement angle of the quantum discord changes discontinuously from zero to π/2 or vice versa). However, when considering more general X quantum states, we found that quantum discord and one-way quantum work deficit can experience sudden changes of other kinds. Namely, the optimal measurement angle may suddenly start to shift continuously from its stationary value 0 or π/2 to an intermediate optimal measurement angle ϑ ∈ (0, π/2). This leads to a new behavior of quantum correlations, which is mathematically described by the Landau phenomenological theory of second-order phase transitions. In addition, for the one-way quantum work deficit, we found cases where the optimal measurement angle jumps from zero to a nonzero step less than π/2, and then continuously changes its value. This behavior of quantum correlation is similar to a first-order phase transition in Landau’s theory. Dependencies of quantum discord and one-way quantum work deficit near the boundaries, which separate regions with state-dependent (variable) and state-independent (stationary, constant) optimal measurement angles, are examined in detail on an example of the XXZ spin model in an external field at thermal equilibrium.