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arXiv:2511.14837 · New Journal of Physics

Robustness of the quantum Mpemba effect against state-preparation errors

Matthew Mackinnon, Mauro Paternostro

quant-phSubmitted Nov 18, 2025• Announced Nov 20, 2025• 2 citations
v1 · Nov 18, 2025v2 · Apr 13, 2026
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The quantum Mpemba effect (QME) is a phenomenon observed in many-body systems where initial systems configurations farther from equilibrium can be observed to equilibrate faster than configurations that are closer to it. By considering noise induced error in the initial system state preparation, we analyse the robustness of various models exhibiting the QME. We demonstrate that exponentially accelerated thermalisation in open system dynamics modelled by a Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad master equation is highly sensitive to noise induced deviations in the initial state, making this approach to accelerated thermalisation difficult to achieve. In contrast, we demonstrate that accelerated restoration of symmetry in $U(1)$ symmetric random unitary circuits via increased initial symmetry breaking is robust in the presence of state preparation error. When large errors are present in the state preparation, we show that this can in fact induce a higher rate of symmetry restoration and a stronger QME.

Journal reference
New J. Phys. 28 (2026)
DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/ae5840
Comments
9 pages, 8 figures. Comments welcome!

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The quantum Mpemba effect (QME) is a phenomenon observed in many-body systems where initial systems configurations farther from equilibrium can be observed to equilibrate faster than configurations that are closer to it. By considering noise induced error in the initial system state preparation, we analyse the robustness of various models exhibiting the QME. We demonstrate that exponentially accelerated thermalisation in open system dynamics modelled by a Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad master equation is highly sensitive to noise induced deviations in the initial state, making this approach to accelerated thermalisation difficult to achieve. In contrast, we demonstrate that accelerated restoration of symmetry in U(1)U(1)U(1) symmetric random unitary circuits via increased initial symmetry breaking is robust in the presence of state preparation error. When large errors are present in the state preparation, we show that this can in fact induce a higher rate of symmetry restoration and a stronger QME.
The quantum Mpemba effect (QME) describes the counterintuitive phenomenon where a system initially further from equilibrium relaxes faster than one closer to it. Specifically, the QME associated with symmetry restoration has been extensively investigated across integrable, ergodic, and disordered localized systems. However, its fate in disorder-free ergodicity-breaking settings, such as the Stark many-body localized (Stark-MBL) phase, remains an open question. Here, we explore the dynamics of local U(1) symmetry restoration in a Stark-MBL XXZ spin-12 chain, using the Rényi-2 entanglement asymmetry (EA) as a probe. Using an analytical operator-string expansion supported by numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the QME transitions from an initial-state-dependent anomaly in the ergodic phase to a universal feature in the Stark-MBL regime. Moreover, the Mpemba time scales exponentially with the subsystem size, even in the absence of global transport, and is governed by high-order off-resonant processes. We attribute this robust inversion to a Stark-induced hierarchy of relaxation channels that fundamentally constrains the effective Hilbert space dimension. The findings pave the way for utilizing tunable potentials to engineer and control anomalous relaxation timescales in quantum technologies without reliance on quenched disorder.
The Mpemba effect, where a system initially farther from equilibrium relaxes faster than one closer to equilibrium, has been extensively studied in classical systems and recently explored in quantum settings. While previous studies of the quantum Mpemba effect (QME) have largely focused on isolated systems with global symmetries, we argue that the QME is ubiquitous in generic, nonintegrable many-body systems lacking such symmetries, including U(1) charge conservation, spatial symmetries, and even energy conservation. Using paradigmatic models such as the quantum Ising model with transverse and longitudinal fields, we show that the QME can be understood through the energy density of initial states and their inverse participation ratio in the energy eigenbasis. Our findings provide a unified framework for the QME, linking it with classical thermal relaxation.
The quantum Mpemba effect is the counterintuitive phenomenon whereby a quantum state initially farther from equilibrium relaxes faster than one initially closer to it. We demonstrate this effect in random Clifford circuits with a conserved U(1)\mathrm{U}(1)U(1) charge, using the entanglement asymmetry to characterize relaxation through dynamical symmetry restoration. Exact numerical simulations show that an initially more asymmetric state can become locally more symmetric than an initially less asymmetric one. We explain this behavior by mapping the dynamics onto a charge-conserving quantum automaton, in which the decay of the entanglement asymmetry is controlled by the statistics of encounters between two particle species evolving according to a symmetric simple exclusion process. This mapping yields an analytic expression for the entanglement asymmetry and provides a simple microscopic mechanism for the quantum Mpemba effect: stronger initial symmetry breaking corresponds to a denser particle configuration, which enhances the frequency of particle encounters and thereby accelerates symmetry restoration.
Entanglement asymmetry, which serves as a diagnostic tool for symmetry breaking and a proxy for thermalization, has recently been proposed and studied in the context of symmetry restoration for quantum many-body systems undergoing a quench. In this Letter, we investigate symmetry restoration in various symmetric random quantum circuits, particularly focusing on the U(1) symmetry case. In contrast to nonsymmetric random circuits where the U(1) symmetry of a small subsystem can always be restored at late times, we reveal that symmetry restoration can fail in U(1)-symmetric circuits for certain weak symmetry-broken initial states in finite-size systems. In the early-time dynamics, we observe an intriguing quantum Mpemba effect implying that symmetry is restored faster when the initial state is more asymmetric. Furthermore, we also investigate the entanglement asymmetry dynamics for SU(2) and Z_{2} symmetric circuits and identify the presence and absence of the quantum Mpemba effect for the corresponding symmetries, respectively. A unified understanding of these results is provided through the lens of quantum thermalization with conserved charges.
The Mpemba effect, where a state prepared farther from equilibrium relaxes faster to equilibrium than one prepared closer, has a quantum counterpart where relaxation is resolved by conserved charge. However, the fate of the quantum Mpemba effect in systems with long-range interactions remains an open question. Here, we study the quantum Mpemba effect in long-ranged, U(1)-symmetric random unitary circuits. Using annealed Rényi-2 entanglement asymmetry computed via replica tensor networks and exact diagonalization, we track the symmetry restoration from three types of tilted product states: ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic, and ferromagnetic with a central domain wall. The quantum Mpemba effect is present for tilted ferromagnetic states at all interaction ranges, but absent for tilted antiferromagnetic states, and occurs for the domain-wall state only in effectively short-ranged circuits, where the Mpemba time tMt_{\rm M}tM​ is found to scale with the subsystem size NAN_ANA​ as tM ⁣∼ ⁣NA zt_{\rm M}\!\sim\!N_{A}^{\,z}tM​∼NAz​, with the dynamical exponent z=min⁡(α−1,2)z=\min(α-1,2)z=min(α−1,2). These results reveal how the quantum Mpemba effect is governed by the interplay between interaction range and initial-state charge bias in long-ranged chaotic systems.
Symmetry plays a fundamental role in many-body systems, both in and out of equilibrium. The quantum Mpemba effect (QME)—a phenomenon where systems initially farther from equilibrium can thermalize faster—can be understood in terms of how rapidly a symmetry, broken by initial conditions, is dynamically restored. In this work, we study the QME in a one-dimensional spin-1/2 XYZ model with power-law decaying interactions in the presence of a magnetic field. In the prethermal regime generated by large field strengths, the system develops a continuous U(1) symmetry, enabling the QME to emerge. However, due to the Hohenberg-Mermin-Wagner theorem, the QME can only arise when interactions are sufficiently short-ranged. This leads to an interplay between the external field, interaction range, and dynamical symmetry restoration. We systematically explore this interplay and analyze the dependence of the QME on the effective temperature set by the initial state. Our results demonstrate the tunability of the QME via long-range interactions, which can be probed in experimental platforms of trapped ions, polar molecules, and NV centers.