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Exponentially accelerated relaxation and quantum Mpemba effect in open quantum systems

Emerson Lima Caldas1 and Diego Paiva Pires1,2

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Phys. Rev. A 114, 012418 – Published 6 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/7gsd-21tb

Abstract

We investigate the quantum Mpemba effect in the relaxation of open quantum systems whose effective dynamics is described by Davies maps. We introduce a class of unitary transformations constructed from permutation matrices that, when applied to an initial state, (i) suppress the slowest decaying modes of the nonunitary dynamics and (ii) maximize the state's distinguishability from the steady state. The first condition ensures exponentially faster convergence to equilibrium, while the second implies that a quantum system initially further from equilibrium can approach it more rapidly than one that starts closer. This protocol thus realizes a genuine Mpemba effect, and its simulation requires low computational effort. We prove that, for any initial state, there exists a permutation matrix that maximizes its distance from equilibrium with respect to a chosen information-theoretic distinguishability measure. We illustrate our findings for a two-level system, as well as for the nonunitary dynamics of the transverse-field Ising chain and the XXZ chain, each weakly coupled to a bosonic thermal bath. In these cases, the quantum Mpemba effect is demonstrated using the Hilbert-Schmidt distance, quantum relative entropy, and trace distance. Overall, our results provide a versatile framework for engineering a genuine quantum Mpemba effect in Markovian open quantum systems.

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Phys. Rev. A 114, 012418– Published 6 July, 2026
  • Received 19 December 2025
  • Revised 1 May 2026
  • Accepted 11 June 2026
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