Quantum correlations of two-mode Gaussian systems in a thermal environment

Abstract: In the framework of the theory of open systems based on completely positive quantum dynamical semigroups, we give a description of continuous variable quantum entanglement and quantum discord for a system consisting of two non-interacting non-resonant bosonic modes embedded in a thermal environment. We study the time evolution of logarithmic negativity, which characterizes the degree of entanglement, and show that in the case of an entangled initial squeezed thermal state, entanglement suppression takes place for all temperatures of the environment, including zero temperature. We analyze the time evolution of the Gaussian quantum discord, which is a measure of all quantum correlations in the bipartite state, including entanglement, and show that discord decays asymptotically in time under the effect of the thermal bath. We describe also the time evolution of classical correlations and quantum mutual information, which measures the total correlations of the quantum system.