Conserved quantities enable the quantum Mpemba effect in weakly open systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ulčakar, Iris, Sharipov, Rustem, Lagnese, Gianluca, Lenarčič, Zala
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Ulčakar, Iris
Sharipov, Rustem
Lagnese, Gianluca
Lenarčič, Zala
author_facet Ulčakar, Iris
Sharipov, Rustem
Lagnese, Gianluca
Lenarčič, Zala
contents Observation of the quantum Mpemba effect has spurred much interest in its enabling conditions and its relation to the classical counterpart. Here, we consider weakly open many-body quantum systems initialized in different thermal states and examine when the initially farther state relaxes to the (non-equilibrium) steady state faster. We claim that the number of conserved quantities in the unitary part plays a crucial role: the Mpemba effect is possible only when the Hamiltonian commutes with other extensive operators or is integrable. The reason lies in the dynamical evolution happening in spaces of different dimensions. When energy is the only approximately conserved quantity, dissipation pushes the dynamics within a single-parameter manifold of different thermal states. In contrast, for Hamiltonians with several conserved quantities, the dynamics drift in the multi-dimensional space of generalized Gibbs ensembles, whose distance to the steady state is less trivial. We provide numerical results for large system sizes using tensor networks and free-fermion techniques, thereby supporting our claim.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_16739
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Conserved quantities enable the quantum Mpemba effect in weakly open systems
Ulčakar, Iris
Sharipov, Rustem
Lagnese, Gianluca
Lenarčič, Zala
Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
Observation of the quantum Mpemba effect has spurred much interest in its enabling conditions and its relation to the classical counterpart. Here, we consider weakly open many-body quantum systems initialized in different thermal states and examine when the initially farther state relaxes to the (non-equilibrium) steady state faster. We claim that the number of conserved quantities in the unitary part plays a crucial role: the Mpemba effect is possible only when the Hamiltonian commutes with other extensive operators or is integrable. The reason lies in the dynamical evolution happening in spaces of different dimensions. When energy is the only approximately conserved quantity, dissipation pushes the dynamics within a single-parameter manifold of different thermal states. In contrast, for Hamiltonians with several conserved quantities, the dynamics drift in the multi-dimensional space of generalized Gibbs ensembles, whose distance to the steady state is less trivial. We provide numerical results for large system sizes using tensor networks and free-fermion techniques, thereby supporting our claim.
title Conserved quantities enable the quantum Mpemba effect in weakly open systems
topic Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.16739