Gaussian Quantum Steering of Two Bosonic Modes in a Thermal Environment

Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steerability of quantum states is a property that is different from entanglement and Bell nonlocality. We describe the time evolution of a measure that quantifies steerability for arbitrary bipartite Gaussian states in a system consisting of two bosonic modes embedded in a common thermal environment. We work in the framework of the theory of open quantum systems. If the initial state of the subsystem is taken of Gaussian form, then the evolution under completely positive quantum dynamical semigroups assures the preservation in time of the Gaussian form of the state. We study the Gaussian quantum steering in terms of the covariance matrix under the influence of the thermal environment and find out that the thermal noise and dissipation destroy the steerability between the two parts. We make a comparison with other quantum correlations for the same system, and show that, unlike Gaussian quantum discord, which is decreasing asymptotically in time, the Gaussian quantum steerability suffers a ”sudden death” behaviour it vanishes in a finite time, like quantum entanglement.