[en] We study the dynamics and protection of tripartite quantum correlations in terms of genuinely tripartite concurrence, lower bound of concurrence and tripartite geometric quantum discord in a three-qubit system interacting with independent thermal bath. By comparing the dynamics of entanglement with that of quantum discord for initial GHZ state and W state, we find that W state is more robust than GHZ state, and quantum discord performs better than entanglement against the decoherence induced by the thermal bath. When the bath temperature is low, for the initial GHZ state, combining weak measurement and measurement reversal is necessary for a successful protection of quantum correlations. But for the initial W state, the protection depends solely upon the measurement reversal. In addition, the protection cannot usually be realized irrespective of the initial states as the bath temperature increases

[en] In contrast with entanglement and quantum discord (QD), we investigate the thermal quantum correlation in terms of Schatten one-norm geometric quantum discord (GQD) in the XY spin chain, and analyze their capabilities in detecting the critical point of quantum phase transition. We show that the one-norm GQD can reveal more properties about quantum correlation between two spins, especially for the long-range quantum correlation at finite temperature. Under the influences of site distance, anisotropy and temperature, one-norm GQD and its first derivative make it possible to detect the critical point efficiently for a general XY spin chain. - Highlights: • Comparing with entanglement and QD, one-norm GQD is more robust versus the temperature. • One-norm GQD is more efficient in characterization of long-range quantum correlation between two distant qubits. • One-norm GQD performs well in highlighting the critical point of QPT at zero or low finite temperature. • One-norm GQD has a number of advantages over QD in detecting the critical point of the spin chain.

[en] The non-equilibrium thermal entanglement and quantum discord in a two-qubit Heisenberg XYZ model subjected to two thermal baths with different temperatures are investigated. The dynamical behaviors of entanglement and quantum discord under the influences of the initial states of the two-qubit system, the temperature of the thermal baths and the coupling constant $J_z$ are discussed. A special emphasis is devoted to study the effects of the thermal baths on the steady quantum correlation between the two qubits. Our results show that the temperature difference $\mathrm{\Delta <!--\; ??\; -->}T$ plays a key role for the appearance of steady quantum correlation, which can be enhanced by coupling constant $J_z$, DM interaction and non-uniform magnetic field.

[en] Considering the influences of collective dephasing, multilocal qutrit-flip, local qutrit-flip, and the combination of global mixed noise, we study the dynamics of entanglement and the phenomenon of distillability of sudden death (DSD) in a qutrit-qutrit system under various decoherent noises. It is shown that the system always undergoes DSD when it interacts with multilocal and local qutrit-flip noise, and the time-determined bound entangled state is more dependent on different noises. Comparing with the cases of global mixed and collective dephasing noise, we conclude that the qutrit-flip noise is responsible for the DSD. (paper)

[en] The dynamics of entanglement and quantum discord (QD) between two two-level atoms interacting with two dissipative coupled cavities in the presence of initial atom-cavity correlations is investigated. In comparison with the result of the initial factorized state, we show that the initial state contained quantum correlation of atom-cavity is most robust against the dissipative environment, and the initial atom-cavity correlations, especially the quantum correlation, play a constructive role in the generation of atomic entanglement and QD. Simultaneously, the comparison between Markovian and non-Markovian dynamics, and the influences of inter-cavity hopping rate are also taken into account and analyzed. (paper)

[en] Different C₆₀ crystals were synthesized by precipitation from a mixture of the good solvent m-xylene and the poor solvent isopropyl alcohol. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM). We found that the morphologies and sizes of the samples could be controlled by adjusting the volume ratio between the good and poor solvents. Especially, an unexpected short flower column-like crystal was synthesized at low ratios (from 1:6 to 1:12). Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) and HRTEM studies of the C₆₀ crystal samples reveal that the PL efficiency of the crystals decreases with increasing crystalline order and that the disordered C₆₀ crystals synthesized at the ratio of 1:2 show 10 times higher PL efficiency than that of pristine C₆₀. The mechanism of the growth process of these C₆₀ crystals was also studied by replacing the good solvents m-xylene with toluene and mesitylene. (paper)

[en] We study the measurement-induced disturbance (MID) in a 1D optical lattice chain with nonlinear coupling. Special attention is paid to the difference between the thermal entanglement and MID when considering the influences of the linear coupling constant, nonlinear coupling constant and external magnetic field. It is shown that MID is more robust than thermal entanglement against temperature T and external magnetic field B, and MID may reveal more properties about quantum correlations of the system, which can be seen from the point of view that MID can be nonzero when there is no thermal entanglement and MID can detect the critical point of quantum phase transition at finite temperature. - Highlights: ► The nonlinear coupling constant can strengthen the quantum correlation. ► MID is more robust than entanglement against temperature and magnetic field. ► MID exhibits more information about quantum correlation than entanglement. ► MID can detect the critical point of quantum phase transition at finite temperature.