General quantum correlation from nonreal values of Kirkwood–Dirac quasiprobability over orthonormal product bases

Abstract We propose a characterization and a quantification of the general quantum correlation which is exhibited even by a separable (unentangled) mixed bipartite state in terms of the nonclassical values of the associated Kirkwood–Dirac (KD) quasiprobability. Such a general quantum correlation, wherein entanglement is a subset, is not only intriguing from a fundamental point of view, but it has also been recognized as a resource in a variety of schemes of quantum information processing and quantum technology. Given a bipartite state, we construct a quantity based on the imaginary part the associated KD quasiprobability defined over a pair of orthonormal product bases and an optimization procedure over all pairs of such bases. We show that it satisfies certain requirements expected for a quantifier of general quantum correlations. It gives a lower bound to the total sum of the quantum standard deviation of all the elements of the product (local) basis, minimized over all such bases. It suggests an interpretation as the minimum genuine quantum share of uncertainty in all local von-Neumann projective measurements. Moreover, it is a faithful witness for entanglement and measurement-induced nonlocality of pure bipartite states. We then discuss a variational scheme for its estimation, and based on this, we offer information theoretical meanings of the general quantum correlation. Our results suggest a deep connection between the nonclassical concept of general quantum correlation and the nonclassical values of the KD quasiprobability and the associated strange weak values.