English

(A)Symmetric Complexity and the Quantum Mpemba Effect

High Energy Physics - Theory 2025-09-11 v1

Abstract

The Quantum Mpemba Effect (QME) -- the counter-intuitive phenomenon where states further from equilibrium can relax faster than those closer to it -- challenges standard expectations of quantum thermalization. In this work, we introduce Krylov complexity as a sensitive diagnostic for the QME. We show that Krylov spread complexity encodes the asymmetry essential to the effect, and we define a new class of projective (a)symmetric complexities that sharpen this connection. Strikingly, the structure of these projective complexities at the initial moment (t=0t=0) already carries predictive power for the onset of Mpemba-like inversions, obviating the need for explicit time evolution. Our results suggest that the geometry of states in Krylov space captures deep information about non-monotonic relaxation and provides a powerful framework for diagnosing and anticipating anomalous thermalization phenomena in quantum systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.08078,
  title  = {(A)Symmetric Complexity and the Quantum Mpemba Effect},
  author = {Cameron Beetar and Jeff Murugan and Hendrik J. R. van Zyl},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.08078},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

31+20 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-01T05:29:04.333Z