Basis-independent coherence dynamics of tripartite states under pure dephasing

Abstract

Quantum coherence is a fundamental quantum resource whose preservation under environmental interactions is essential for quantum information processing. While most studies have focused on basis-dependent coherence measures, the dynamics of intrinsic coherence quantified by basis-independent measures remain largely unexplored. In this work, we investigate the dynamics of basis-independent quantum coherence for several representative tripartite pure and mixed states subjected to local and common dephasing environments in both Markovian and non-Markovian regimes. We show that Markovian local dephasing leads to state-dependent coherence degradation, whereas collective dephasing significantly enhances coherence preservation through decoherence-free sectors. More importantly, non-Markovian environments give rise to nearly frozen coherence dynamics for both pure and mixed states, demonstrating the remarkable robustness of intrinsic coherence against the dephasing environment. A comparison with the measure of relative entropy of coherence reveals that the basis-independent coherence measure exhibits substantially greater resilience and qualitatively different dynamical behaviour than its basis-dependent counterpart. These results provide new insights into the preservation of intrinsic multipartite coherence in open quantum systems and highlight basis-independent coherence as a robust quantum resource for realistic noisy quantum technologies.

Schematic overview of basis-independent coherence dynamics for tripartite pure and mixed quantum states under local and common dephasing environments, highlighting state-dependent coherence degradation in Markovian regimes and the near-freezing of coherence in non-Markovian regimes.