Quantum and classical correlations in quantum Brownian motion

J. Eisert, M. B. Plenio

Published 2001-11-02, updated 2002-06-24Version 3

We investigate the entanglement properties of the joint state of a distinguished quantum system and its environment in the quantum Brownian motion model. This model is a frequent starting point for investigations of environment-induced superselection. Using recent methods from quantum information theory, we show that there exists a large class of initial states for which no entanglement will be created at all times between the system of salient interest and the environment. If the distinguished system has been initially prepared in a pure Gaussian state, then entanglement is created immediately, regardless of the temperature of the environment and the non-vanishing coupling.