We evaluate the quantum discord dynamics of two qubits in independent and common non-Markovian environments. We compare the dynamics of entanglement with that of quantum discord. For independent reservoirs the quantum discord vanishes only at discrete instants whereas the entanglement can disappear during a finite time interval. For a common reservoir quantum discord and entanglement can behave very differently with sudden birth of the former but not of the latter. Furthermore, in this case the quantum discord dynamics presents sudden changes in the derivative of its time evolution which is evidenced by the presence of kinks in its behavior at discrete instants of time.

We show that measurements of finite duration performed on an open two-state system can protect the initial state from a phase-noisy environment, provided the measured observable does not commute with the perturbing interaction. When the measured observable commutes with the environmental interaction, the finite-duration measurement accelerates the rate of decoherence induced by the phase noise. For the description of the measurement of an observable that is incompatible with the interaction between system and environment, we have found an approximate analytical expression, valid at zero temperature and weak coupling with the measuring device. We have tested the validity of the analytical predictions against an exact numerical approach, based on the superoperator-splitting method, that confirms the protection of the initial state of the system. When the coupling between the system and the measuring apparatus increases beyond the range of validity of the analytical approximation, the initial state is still protected by the finite-time measurement, according with the exact numerical calculations.

We present a derivation of the Lindblad equation - an important tool for the treatment of non-unitary evolutions - that is accessible to undergraduate students in physics or mathematics with a basic background on quantum mechanics. We consider a specific case, corresponding to a very simple situation, where a primary system interacts with a bath of harmonic oscillators at zero temperature, with an interaction Hamiltonian that resembles the Jaynes-Cummings format. We start with the Born-Markov equation and, tracing out the bath degrees of freedom, we obtain an equation in the Lindblad form. The specific situation is very instructive, for it makes it easy to realize that the Lindblads represent the effect on the main system caused by the interaction with the bath, and that the Markov approximation is a fundamental condition for the emergence of the Lindbladian operator. The formal derivation of the Lindblad equation for a more general case requires the use of quantum dynamical semi-groups and broader considerations regarding the environment and temperature than we have considered in the particular case treated here.Comment: 11 page

We consider the problem of measurement using the Lindblad equation, which allows the introduction of time in the interaction between the measured system and the measurement apparatus. We use analytic results, valid for weak system-environment coupling, obtained for a two-level system in contact with a measurer (Markovian interaction) and a thermal bath (non-Markovian interaction), where the measured observable may or may not commute with the system-environment interaction.Analysing the behavior of the coherence, which tends to a value asymptotically close to zero, we obtain an expression for the time of measurement which depends only on the system-measurer coupling, and which does not depend on whether the observable commutes with the system-bath interaction. The behavior of the coherences in the case of strong system-environment coupling, found numerically, indicates that an increase in this coupling decreases the measurement time, thus allowing our expression to be considered the upper limit for the duration of the process.