Quantifying spatial correlations of general quantum dynamics

Understanding the role of correlations in quantum systems is both a fundamental challenge as well as of high practical relevance for the control of multi-particle quantum systems. Whereas a lot of research has been devoted to study the various types of correlations that can be present in the states of quantum systems, in this work we introduce a general and rigorous method to quantify the amount of correlations in the dynamics of quantum systems. Using a resource-theoretical approach, we introduce a suitable quantifier and characterize the properties of correlated dynamics. Furthermore, we benchmark our method by applying it to the paradigmatic case of two atoms weakly coupled to the electromagnetic radiation field, and illustrate its potential use to detect and assess spatial noise correlations in quantum computing architectures. (fast track communication)