Quantum correlation dynamics in a two-qubit Heisenberg XYZ model with decoherence

Quantum correlation dynamics in an anisotropic Heisenberg XYZ model under decoherence is investigated by making use of concurrence C and quantum discord (QD). Firstly, we show that both the concurrence and QD exhibit oscillation with time whereas a remarkable difference between them is presented: there is an "entanglement intermittently sudden death" phenomenon in the concurrence but not in the QD, which is valid for all the initial states of this system. Also, the interval time of entanglement sudden death is found to be strongly dependent on the initial states, the inhomogeneous magnetic field b and the anisotropic parameter Δ. Then, it implies that the steady concurrence and QD can be obtained in the long-time limit, which means that the environmental decoherence cannot entirely destroy the quantum correlation, the variation of the uniform magnetic field B and the anisotropic parameter can change the magnitude of the steady concurrence and QD evidently whereas the parameter b cannot. In addition, based on the analysis of the steady concurrence and QD with t →∞, we give the reason why the magnitude of the steady concurrence and QD is so complicated with the change of the parameters B and Δ, whereas the parameter b is independent of the steady concurrence and QD.