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Quantum discord for two-qubit X states: Analytical formula with very small worst-case error

Quantum Physics 2013-08-02 v2

Abstract

Quantum discord is a measure of quantum correlation beyond entanglement. Computing quantum discord for simple quantum states is a basic problem. An analytical formula of quantum discord for two-qubit X states is first claimed in [Ali, Rau, and Alber, Phys. Rev. A 81, 042105 (2010)], but later found to be not always correct. I observe numerically that the formula is valid with worst-case absolute error 0.0021. For symmetric two-qubit X states, I give a counterexample to the analytical formula derived in [F. F. Fanchini et al., Phys. Rev. A 81, 052107 (2010)], but observe that the formula is valid with worst-case absolute error 0.0006. The formula has been used in many research papers. The results in all these works are approximately correct, even if they may not be exactly correct.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1306.0228,
  title  = {Quantum discord for two-qubit X states: Analytical formula with very small worst-case error},
  author = {Yichen Huang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1306.0228},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

slightly revised; published version

R2 v1 2026-06-22T00:26:37.262Z