Quantum channels that preserve the commutativity

We identify and characterize all the local quantum channels that preserves the set of classical states, i.e., does not create any quantum correlations. At first we show that the quantum correlations cannot be created from without if and only if the local quantum channel preserves the commutativity, i.e., the images of any two commuting states also commute. And then we provide an operational necessary and sufficient criterion for a known quantum channel to preserve the commutativity as well as a single observable to witness an arbitrary unknown commutativity-preserving channel. All the distance-based measures for quantum correlations, e.g., the geometric measure, are non-increasing while the quantum discord defined by von Neumann measurements can be increasing or decreasing under local commutativity-preserving channels.