Quantum Mpemba effect in chaotic systems with conservation laws
Quantum Physics
2026-04-28 v2
Abstract
Closed chaotic quantum systems relax after a quench into a Gibbs ensemble. At late times, the relaxation speed is determined by their conservation laws and hydrodynamics. As a result, there exist pairs of initial states which thermalize to the same ensemble, yet exhibit drastically different hydrodynamic relaxation. We show in two chaotic spin chains how this enables a simple and robust realization of the quantum Mpemba effect: a system initially closer to equilibrium relaxes slower than one that starts farther away, despite both approaching the same final state.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.11876,
title = {Quantum Mpemba effect in chaotic systems with conservation laws},
author = {Thomas Martin Müller and Silvia Pappalardi and Rosario Fazio},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.11876},
year = {2026}
}