Manipulating sudden death of entanglement of two-qubit X-states in thermal reservoirs

Manipulation of sudden death of entanglement (ESD) of two qubits interacting with statistically uncorrelated thermal reservoirs is investigated. It is shown that for initially prepared X-states of the two qubits a simple (necessary and sufficient) criterion for ESD can be derived with the help of the Peres-Horodecki criterion. This criterion implies that, in contrast to the zero-temperature case, at finite temperature of at least one of the reservoirs all initially prepared two-qubit X-states exhibit ESD. General conditions are derived under which ESD can be hastened, delayed, or averted.