Thermodynamic limits of the Mpemba effect: A unified resource theory analysis of correlation-enabled mechanisms
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866918450154176512 |
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| author | Alyürük, Doruk Can Yeşiller, Mahir H. Vedral, Vlatko Pusuluk, Onur |
| author_facet | Alyürük, Doruk Can Yeşiller, Mahir H. Vedral, Vlatko Pusuluk, Onur |
| contents | The Mpemba effect, in which a hotter system cools faster than a colder one, remains one of the most intriguing anomalies in thermodynamics. Here, we investigate its microscopic origin within the framework of quantum resource theories and introduce correlations as a new enabling mechanism: classical correlations can support the effect, whereas quantum correlations become relevant only under specific energy-degeneracy conditions. Importantly, correlations are necessary but not sufficient. Whether they induce the effect depends on their distribution across subsystems and on system parameters. Other resources, such as non-Markovian memory effects and Hilbert space dimensionality, primarily modulate the temperature window in which the effect can occur. Finally, by analyzing both didactic multi-qubit instances and a phenomenological single-molecule model of water, we demonstrate that the insufficiency of correlations helps explain the sporadic and sometimes contradictory observations of the Mpemba effect in experiments. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_00123 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Thermodynamic limits of the Mpemba effect: A unified resource theory analysis of correlation-enabled mechanisms Alyürük, Doruk Can Yeşiller, Mahir H. Vedral, Vlatko Pusuluk, Onur Quantum Physics The Mpemba effect, in which a hotter system cools faster than a colder one, remains one of the most intriguing anomalies in thermodynamics. Here, we investigate its microscopic origin within the framework of quantum resource theories and introduce correlations as a new enabling mechanism: classical correlations can support the effect, whereas quantum correlations become relevant only under specific energy-degeneracy conditions. Importantly, correlations are necessary but not sufficient. Whether they induce the effect depends on their distribution across subsystems and on system parameters. Other resources, such as non-Markovian memory effects and Hilbert space dimensionality, primarily modulate the temperature window in which the effect can occur. Finally, by analyzing both didactic multi-qubit instances and a phenomenological single-molecule model of water, we demonstrate that the insufficiency of correlations helps explain the sporadic and sometimes contradictory observations of the Mpemba effect in experiments. |
| title | Thermodynamic limits of the Mpemba effect: A unified resource theory analysis of correlation-enabled mechanisms |
| topic | Quantum Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.00123 |