Quantum discord from system-environment correlations

In an initially uncorrelated mixed separable bi-partite system, quantum correlations can emerge under the action of a local measurement or local noise [A. Streltsov, H. Kampermann, and D. Bru\ss{}, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 170502 (2011)]. We analyze this counter-intuitive phenomenon using quantum discord as a quantifier. We then relate changes in quantum discord to system-environment correlations between the system in a mixed state and some purifying environmental mode using the Koashi-Winter inequality. On this basis, we suggest an interpretation of discord as a byproduct of transferring entanglement and correlations around the different subsystems of a global pure state.