Eikonal equation of the Lorentz-violating Maxwell theory

We derive the eikonal equation of light wavefront in the presence of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) from the photon sector of the standard model extension (SME). The results obtained from the equations of $\mathbf{E}$ and $\mathbf{B}$ fields respectively are the same. This guarantees the self-consistency of our derivation. We adopt a simple case with only one non-zero LIV parameter as an illustration, from which we find two points. One is that, in analogy with Hamilton-Jacobi equation, from the eikonal equation, we can derive dispersion relations which are compatible with results obtained from other approaches. The other is that, the wavefront velocity is the same as the group velocity, as well as the energy flow velocity. If further we define the signal velocity $v_s$ as the front velocity, there always exists a mode with $v_s>1$, hence causality is violated classically. Thus our method might be useful in the analysis of Lorentz violation in QED in terms of classical causality .Comment: 14 latex pages, no figure, final version for publication in EPJ

Lorentz violation from cosmological objects with very high energy photon emissions

Lorentz violation (LV) is predicted by some quantum gravity theories, where photon dispersion relation is modified, and the speed of light becomes energy-dependent. Consequently, it results in a tiny time delay between high energy photons and low energy ones. Very high energy (VHE) photon emissions from cosmological distance can amplify these tiny LV effects into observable quantities. Here we analyze four VHE $\gamma$-ray bursts (GRBs) from Fermi observations, and briefly review the constraints from three TeV flares of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) as well. One step further, we present a first robust analysis of VHE GRBs taking the intrinsic time lag caused by sources into account, and give an estimate to quantum gravity energy $\sim 2 \times 10^{17}$ GeV for linear energy dependence, and $\sim 5 \times 10^9$ GeV for quadratic dependence. However, the statistics is not sufficient due to the lack of data, and further observational results are desired to constrain LV effects better.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, final version to appear in Astroparticle Physic

Van der Waals-like phase transition from holographic entanglement entropy in Lorentz breaking massive gravity

In this paper, phase transition of AdS black holes in lorentz breaking massive gravity has been studied in the framework of holography. We find that there is a first order phase transition(FPT) and second order phase transition(SPT) both in Bekenstein-Hawking entropy(BHE)-temperature plane and holographic entanglement entropy(HEE)-temperature plane. Furthermore, for the FPT, the equal area law is checked and for the SPT, the critical exponent of the heat capacity is also computed. Our results confirm that the phase structure of HEE is similar to that of BHE in lorentz breaking massive gravity, which implies that HEE and BHE have some potential underlying relationship.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

Mutual correlation in the shock wave geometry

We probe the shock wave geometry with the mutual correlation in a spherically symmetric Reissner Nordstr\"om AdS black hole on the basis of the gauge/gravity duality. In the static background, we find that the regions living on the boundary of the AdS black holes are correlated provided the considered regions on the boundary are large enough. We also investigate the effect of the charge on the mutual correlation and find that the bigger the value of the charge is, the smaller the value of the mutual correlation will to be. As a small perturbation is added at the AdS boundary, the horizon shifts and a dynamical shock wave geometry forms after long time enough. In this dynamic background, we find that the greater the shift of the horizon is, the smaller the mutual correlation will to be. Especially for the case that the shift is large enough, the mutual correlation vanishes, which implies that the considered regions on the boundary are uncorrelated. The effect of the charge on the mutual correlation in this dynamic background is found to be the same as that in the static background.Comment: 10 page

Comment on "Optimal convex approximations of quantum states"

In a recent paper, M. F. Sacchi [Phys. Rev. A 96, 042325 (2017)] addressed the general problem of approximating an unavailable quantum state by the convex mixing of different available states. For the case of qubit mixed states, we show that the analytical solutions in some cases are invalid. In this Comment, we present complete analytical solutions for the optimal convex approximation. Our solutions can be viewed as correcting and supplementing the results in the aforementioned paper.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Complete characterization of qubit masking

We study the problem of information masking through nonzero linear operators that distribute information encoded in single qubits to the correlations between two qubits. It is shown that a nonzero linear operator cannot mask any nonzero measure set of qubit states. We prove that the maximal maskable set of states on the Bloch sphere with respect to any masker is the ones on a spherical circle. Any states on a spherical circle on the Bloch sphere are maskable, which also proves the conjecture on maskable qubit states given by Modi et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 230501 (2018)]. we provide explicitly operational unitary maskers for all maskable sets. As applications, different protocols for secret sharing are introduced.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Deterministic versus probabilistic quantum information masking

We investigate quantum information masking for arbitrary dimensional quantum states. We show that mutually orthogonal quantum states can always be served for deterministic masking of quantum information. We further construct a probabilistic masking machine for linearly independent states. It is shown that a set of d dimensional states, $\{ |a_1 \rangle_A, |t a_2 \rangle_A, \dots, |a_n \rangle_A \}$, $n \leq d$, can be probabilistically masked by a general unitary-reduction operation if they are linearly independent. The maximal successful probability of probabilistic masking is analyzed and derived for the case of two initial states.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure

Impossibility of masking a set of quantum states of nonzero measure

We study the quantum information masking based on isometric linear operators that distribute the information encoded in pure states to the correlations in bipartite states. It is shown that a isometric linear operator can not mask any nonzero measure set of pure states. We present a geometric characterization of the maskable sets, and show that any maskable set must be on a spherical circle in certain Euclidean spaces. Detailed examples and potential applications in such as secret sharing and quantum cryptography are analyzed.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, comments are welcome

Photon Gas Thermodynamics in Doubly Special Relativity

Doubly special relativity (DSR), with both an invariant velocity and an invariant length scale, elegantly preserves the principle of relativity between moving observers, and appears as a promising candidate of the quantum theory of gravity. We study the modifications of photon gas thermodynamics in the framework of DSR with an invariant length $|\lambda|$, after properly taking into account the effects of modified dispersion relation, upper bounded energy-momentum space, and deformed integration measure. We show that with a positive $\lambda$, the grand partition function, the energy density, the specific heat, the entropy, and the pressure are smaller than those of special relativity (SR), while the velocity of photons and the ratio of pressure to energy are larger. In contrast, with a negative $\lambda$, the quantum gravity effects show up in the opposite direction. However, these effects only manifest themselves significantly when the temperature is larger than $10^{-3} E_{\rm P}$. Thus, DSR can have considerable influence on the early universe in cosmological study.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, final version for publication in AP

Icosahedral B\u3csub\u3e12\u3c/sub\u3e-containing core–shell structures of B\u3csub\u3e80\u3c/sub\u3e

Low-lying icosahedral (Ih) B12-containing structures of B80 are explored, and a number of core–shell isomers are found to have lower energy than the previous predicted B80 fullerene. The structural transformation of boron clusters from tubular structure to core–shell structure may occur at a critical size less than B80