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Abstract:

Recently, a novel operational strategy to access quantum correlation functions of the form Tr[AρB] was provided in [F. Buscemi, M. Dall'Arno, M. Ozawa and V. Vedral, arXiv:1312.4240]. Here we propose a realization scheme, that we call partial expectation values, implementing such strategy in terms of a unitary interaction with an ancillary system followed by the measurement of an observable on the ancilla. Our scheme is universal, being independent of ρ, A, and B, and it is optimal in a statistical sense. Our scheme is suitable for implementation with present quantum optical technology, and provides a new way to test uncertainty relations.

Abstract:

We introduce a simple and efficient technique to verify quantum discord in unknown Gaussian states and certain class of non-Gaussian states. We show that any separation in the peaks of the marginal distributions of one subsystem conditioned on two different outcomes of homodyne measurements performed on the other subsystem indicates correlation between the corresponding quadratures and hence nonzero quantum discord. We also demonstrate that under certain measurement constraints, discord between bipartite systems can be consumed to encode information that can only be accessed by coherent quantum interaction.