Observation of quantum strong Mpemba effect

Jie Zhang, Gang Xia, Chun-Wang Wu, Ting Chen, Qian Zhang, Yi Xie, Wen-Bo Su, Wei Wu, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Ping-Xing Chen, Weibin Li (), Hui Jing () and Yan-Li Zhou ()
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Jie Zhang: National University of Defense Technology
Gang Xia: National University of Defense Technology
Chun-Wang Wu: National University of Defense Technology
Ting Chen: National University of Defense Technology
Qian Zhang: Hunan Normal University
Yi Xie: National University of Defense Technology
Wen-Bo Su: National University of Defense Technology
Wei Wu: National University of Defense Technology
Cheng-Wei Qiu: National University of Singapore
Ping-Xing Chen: National University of Defense Technology
Weibin Li: University of Nottingham
Hui Jing: Hunan Normal University
Yan-Li Zhou: National University of Defense Technology

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract An ancient and counterintuitive phenomenon known as the Mpemba effect (water can cool faster when initially heated up) showcases the critical role of initial conditions in relaxation processes. How to realize and utilize this effect for speeding up relaxation is an important but challenging task in purely quantum system till now. Here, we experimentally study the strong Mpemba effect in a single trapped ion system in which an exponentially accelerated relaxation in time is observed by preparing an optimal quantum initial state with no excitation of the slowest decaying mode. Also, we demonstrate that the condition of realizing such effect coincides with the Liouvillian exceptional point, featuring the coalescence of both the eigenvalues and the eigenmodes of the systems. Our work provides an efficient strategy to engineer the dynamics of open quantum system, and suggests a link unexplored yet between the Mpemba effect and the non-Hermitian physics.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54303-0

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