  We describe the transfer of quantum information and entanglement from three
flying (radiation) to three localized (atomic) qubits via cavity modes
resonantly coupled to the atoms, in the presence of a common reservoir. Upon
addressing the full dynamics of the resulting nine-qubit open system, we find
that once the cavities are fed, fidelity and transferred entanglement are
optimal, while their peak values exponentially decrease due to dissipative
processes. The external radiation is then turned off and quantum correlations
oscillate between atomic and cavity qubits. For a class of mixtures of W and
GHZ input states we deal with a discontinuous exchange of entanglement among
the subsystems, facing the still open problem of entanglement sudden death and
birth in a multipartite system.
