The characterization of quantum discord (QD) has been well understood only for two-qubit states and is little known for mixed states beyond qubits. In this work, thermal quantum discord is studied for a qutrit system in different magnetic fields, where classical correlation and entanglement negativity are calculated for comparison. It is shown that the discord is more robust against temperature than the negativity. For a suitable region of magnetic field and its direction, the discord is non-zero while the negativity is zero. When the system is at a lower temperature, these three quantities, however, display a similar behavior for the varied field and direction, and their discontinuities come from crossovers between different ground states in the system. Moreover, the inequality between the quantum and classical correlations depends upon the system parameters as well as the temperature. In particular, both correlations are equal at a suitable field, direction, and temperature. Remarkably, such an equality remains for a strong field in the antiparallel direction, while both correlations in two-qubit systems are identical for any antiparallel field and temperature. These are useful for quantum information and understanding quantum correlations in qutrit mixed states.
Experimental hierarchy and optimal robustness of quantum correlations of two-qubit states with controllable white noise
