Discord and nonclassicality in probabilistic theories

Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Mar 23;108(12):120502. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.120502. Epub 2012 Mar 19.

Abstract

Quantum discord quantifies nonclassical correlations in quantum states. We introduce discord for states in causal probabilistic theories, inspired by the original definition proposed by H. Ollivier and W. H. Zurek [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 017901 (2001)]. We show that the only probabilistic theory in which all states have null discord is classical probability theory. Non-null discord is then not just a quantum feature, but a generic signature of nonclassicality.