MICT‑Discord: Thresholds, Scaling, Noise Resilience, and Geometry

Quantum correlations extend beyond entanglement and play a central role in quantum information. Quantum discord captures nonclassical correlations that can persist in separable states. We present the first systematic geometric and operational analysis of MICT-discord in two-qubit systems, integrating numerical validation, scaling laws, noise robustness, and resource geometry. We validate MICT-discord against analytic benchmarks, uncover distinct scaling for entangled versus separable classes, and identify a crossover regime where separable states exceed entangled ones in discord, challenging monotonic assumptions. Under depolarizing and amplitude-damping channels, MICT-discord shows channel-dependent resilience, highlighting potential utility for NISQ devices. In contrast, maximally entangled mixed states (MEMS) expose limitations where MICT-discord fails to detect correlations at low purity. Geometric resource analysis delineates the convex hull boundaries of separable states and reveals the clustering of entangled states in high-discordance regions, providing operational thresholds. Overall, MICT-discord emerges as a structured, coherence-sensitive measure with demonstrated strengths in scaling and noise scenarios, alongside clear limitations in mixed-state regimes. Our results establish a reproducible, geometry-informed framework for discord analysis and suggest practical pathways for resource classification and benchmarking in quantum.