Max - Planck - Institut für Mathematik in den Naturwissenschaften Leipzig Assisted state discrimination without entanglement

It is shown that the dissonance, a quantum correlation which is equal to quantum discord for separable state, is required for assisted optimal state discrimination. We find that only one side discord is required in the optimal process of assisted state discrimination, while another side discord and entanglement is not necessary. We show that the quantum discord, which is asymmetric depending on local measurements, is a resource for assisted state discrimination. With the absence of entanglement, we give the necessary and sufficient condition for vanishing one side discord in assisted state discrimination for a class of d nonorthogonal states. As a byproduct, we find that the positive-partial-transposition (PPT) condition is the necessary and sufficient condition for the separability of a class of 2 × d states.