Quantum discord, as introduced by Olliver and Zurek [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 017901 (2001)], is a measure of the discrepancy between two natural yet different quantum analogs of the classical mutual information. This notion characterizes and quantifies quantumness of correlations in bipartite states from a measurement perspective, and is fundamentally different from the various entanglement measures in the entanglement vs separability paradigm. The phenomenon of nonzero quantum discord is a manifestation of quantum correlations due to noncommutativity rather than due to entanglement, and has interesting and significant applications in revealing the advantage of certain quantum tasks. We will evaluate analytically the quantum discord for a large family of two-qubit states, and make a comparative study of the relationships between classical and quantum correlations in terms of the quantum discord. We furthermore compare the quantum discord with the entanglement of formation, and illustrate that the latter may be larger than the former, although for separable states, the entanglement of formation always vanishes and thus is less than the quantum discord.

In contrast to the seminal entanglement-separability paradigm widely used in quantum information theory, we introduce a quantum-classical dichotomy in order to classify and quantify statistical correlations in bipartite states. This is based on the idea that while in the classical description of nature measurements can be carried out without disturbance, in the quantum description, generic measurements often disturb the system and the disturbance can be exploited to quantify the quantumness of correlations therein. It turns out that certain separable states still possess correlations of a quantum nature and indicates that quantum correlations are more general than entanglement. The results are illustrated in the Werner states and the isotropic states, and are applied to quantify the quantum advantage of the model of quantum computation proposed by Knill and Laflamme [Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 5672 (1998)].

Dakic, Vedral, and Brukner [arXiv:1004.0190 (2010)] introduced a geometric measure of quantum discord and derived an explicit formula for any two-qubit state. This measure is significant in capturing quantum correlations from a geometric perspective. In this brief report, we evaluate the geometric measure of quantum discord for an arbitrary state and obtain an explicit and tight lower bound. Furthermore, we reveal an intrinsic feature of geometric measure of quantum discord by showing that it actually coincides with a simpler quantity based on von Neumann measurements.

In the study of open quantum systems, memory effects are usually ignored, and this leads to dynamical semigroups and Markovian dynamics. However, in practice, non-Markovian dynamics is the rule rather than the exception. With the recent emergence of quantum information theory, there is a flurry of investigations of non-Markovian dynamics, and several significant measures for non-Markovianity are introduced from various perspectives such as deviation from divisibility, information exchange between a system and its environment, or entanglement with the environment. In this work, by exploiting the correlations flow between a system and an arbitrary ancillary, we propose a considerably intuitive measure for non-Markovianity by use of correlations as quantified by the quantum mutual information rather than entanglement. The fundamental properties, physical significance, and differences and relations with existing measures for non-Markovianity are elucidated. The measure captures quite directly and deeply the characteristics of non-Markovianity from the perspective of information. A simplified version based on Jamio\l{}kowski-Choi isomorphism which encodes operations via bipartite states and does not involve any optimization is also proposed.

We interpret the maximum global effect caused by locally invariant measurements as measurement-induced nonlocality, which is in some sense dual to the geometric measure of quantum discord [Dakic, Vedral, and Brukner, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 190502 (2010)]. We quantify measurement-induced nonlocality from a geometric perspective in terms of measurements, and obtain analytical formulas for any dimensional pure states and 2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}n dimensional mixed states. We further derive a tight upper bound to measurement-induced nonlocality in general case. The physical significance of measurement-induced nonlocality is discussed in the context of correlations, entanglement, quantumness, and cryptographic communication.

Channel-state duality refers to the correspondence between quantum channels and bipartite states, and it is extremely useful and fruitful in quantum information theory. It is often called the Jamiołkowski isomorphism, the Jamiołkowski-Choi isomorphism, or the Choi-Jamiołkowski isomorphism. We trace the original roots of this duality from a historic perspective, clarify the somewhat misleading term “isomorphism,” reveal the underlying subtle nature, and highlight the seemingly similar but actually different features of the original correspondences in the manner of Pillis, Jamiołkowski, and Choi that lead to the duality. We further illustrate some fundamental properties and diverse applications.