title: Sudden transition between classical and quantum decoherence.
abstract: We study the dynamics of quantum and classical correlations in the presence of nondissipative decoherence. We discover a class of initial states for which the quantum correlations, quantified by the quantum discord, are not destroyed by decoherence for times t<[symbol: see text]. In this initial time interval classical correlations decay. For t>[symbol: see text], on the other hand, classical correlations do not change in time and only quantum correlations are lost due to the interaction with the environment. Therefore, at the transition time [symbol: see text] the open system dynamics exhibits a sudden transition from classical to quantum decoherence regime.
authors.affiliation: Turku Centre for Quantum Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland. laura.mazzola@utu.fi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mazzola
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piilo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maniscalco