Quantum correlations and energy currents across three dissipative oscillators

Abstract

We present a study that addresses both the stationary properties of the energy current and quantum correlations in a three-mode chain subjected to Ohmic and super-Ohmic dissipations. An extensive numerical analysis shows that the mean value and the fluctuations of the energy current remain insensitive to the emergence of a rich variety of quantum correlations, such as two-mode discord and entanglement and bipartite three-mode and genuine tripartite entanglement. The discussion of the numerical results is based on the derived expressions for the stationary properties in terms of the two-time correlation functions of the oscillator operators, which carry the quantum correlations. Interestingly, we show that quantum discord can be enhanced by considering both initially squeezed thermal bath states and imposing temperature gradients.