We investigate the transient dynamics of quantum coherence for a system of two central spins in a spin-star environment by employing a numerical procedure based on a Laguerre polynomial expansion scheme. The dynamics of the total, local, and global coherence are calculated for different values of the anisotropy parameter, the system-bath interaction strengths, and temperature for different initial bipartite states. Significant dynamical features of quantum coherence are found as follows: (i) an $X$ state can only have global coherence; (ii) a state with only initial local coherence gains global coherence during the course of evolution by the induced correlations between the two-qubit system and the common bath; (iii) an incoherent state gains coherence by interacting with an external bath. We find there are two primary ways to gain coherence for an incoherent state: one is by interacting with the external quantum bath and the other is through interconversion of other quantum properties such as purity into coherence. Finally, we demonstrate that our results for the system in an infinite bath also hold qualitatively when the system is in contact with a finite bath.

• Received 30 April 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.100.042333