Quantum discord in the transverse field XY chains with three-spin interaction

The ground state quantum discord in the transverse field anisotropic and isotropic XY chains with XZY–YZX type three-spin interaction has been studied. The three-spin interaction induces new gapless quantum phases in the transverse field anisotropic XY chain besides the ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases. It is found that the first-order derivative of the quantum discord at the Ising type transition between the gapped phases has a logarithmic divergence scaling with the system size. However, the first-order derivative of the quantum discord at the quantum phase transitions between the gapped and gapless phases does not increase with the system size. For the transverse field isotropic XY chain, the first-order derivative of the quantum discord at the quantum phase transitions between the gapless phases has a similar behavior with that between the gapped and gapless phases