Shortcuts of freely relaxing systems using equilibrium physical observables

I. González-Adalid Pemartín, E. Mompó, A. Lasanta, V. Martín-Mayor, J. Salas

Physical Review Letters Vol. 132, nº. 11, pp. 117102-1 - 117102-6

Summary:

Many systems, when initially placed far from equilibrium, exhibit surprising behavior in their attempt to equilibrate. Striking examples are the Mpemba effect and the cooling-heating asymmetry. These anomalous behaviors can be exploited to shorten the time needed to cool down (or heat up) a system. Though, a strategy to design these effects in mesoscopic systems is missing. We bring forward a description that allows us to formulate such strategies, and, along the way, makes natural these paradoxical behaviors. In particular, we study the evolution of macroscopic physical observables of systems freely relaxing under the influence of one or two instantaneous thermal quenches. The two crucial ingredients in our approach are timescale separation and a nonmonotonic temperature evolution of an important state function. We argue that both are generic features near a first-order transition. Our theory is exemplified with the one-dimensional Ising model in a magnetic field using analytic results and numerical experiments.

Spanish layman's summary:

Se explora bajo qué condiciones un sistema fuera del equilibrio puede presentar efectos de relajación anómala tales como: asimetría entre procesos de enfriamiento y calentamiento, el efecto Mpemba, y la posibilidad de acelerar el enfriamiento gracias a un golpe de calor.

English layman's summary:

The work explores the conditions under which a far-from-equilibrium system shows several anomalous relaxation phenomena, such as: cooling-heating asymmetry, the Mpemba effect, and the possibility of reducing the time needed to cool down a system by first heating it up.

Keywords: Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics; Stochastic thermodynamics; Memory effects; Anomalous relaxation

JCR Impact Factor and WoS quartile: 8,600 - Q1 (2022)

DOI reference: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.117102

Published on paper: March 2024.

Citation:
I. González-Adalid Pemartín, E. Mompó, A. Lasanta, V. Martín-Mayor, J. Salas, Shortcuts of freely relaxing systems using equilibrium physical observables. Physical Review Letters. Vol. 132, nº. 11, pp. 117102-1 - 117102-6, March 2024.