Understanding how symmetry constrains dissipative relaxation in open quantum many-body systems remains a central challenge in nonequilibrium physics. Here we uncover a symmetry-selective Liouvillian mechanism that protects an isolated fast-decay channel in a long-range XXZ spin chain subject to dephasing noise. At the \(SU(2)\)-symmetric point, highly symmetric initial states couple exclusively to an exact Liouvillian eigenmode with decay rate \(λ=-2\), producing universal exponential relaxation independent of system size and interaction range. Breaking the symmetry restores overlap with slow Liouvillian modes and substantially suppresses the relaxation dynamics. This symmetry-filtered mode accessibility naturally gives rise to a strong quantum Mpemba effect, where a state farther from the steady state relaxes anomalously faster than closer thermal states. Our results establish symmetry-protected fast relaxation as a mechanism for controlling nonequilibrium pathways in open quantum systems.
Understanding how symmetry constrains dissipative relaxation in open quantum many-body systems remains a central challenge in nonequilibrium physics. Here we uncover a symmetry-selective Liouvillian mechanism that protects an isolated fast-decay channel in a long-range XXZ spin chain subject to dephasing noise. At the (SU(2))-symmetric point, highly symmetric initial states couple exclusively to an exact Liouvillian eigenmode with decay rate (λ=-2), producing universal exponential relaxation independent of system size and interaction range. Breaking the symmetry restores overlap with slow Liouvillian modes and substantially suppresses the relaxation dynamics. This symmetry-filtered mode accessibility naturally gives rise to a strong quantum Mpemba effect, where a state farther from the steady state relaxes anomalously faster than closer thermal states. Our results establish symmetry-protected fast relaxation as a mechanism for controlling nonequilibrium pathways in open quantum systems.
CStrong quantum Mpemba acceleration requires suppressing the slowest visible Liouvillian relaxation channel, but a robust many-body mechanism for enforcing such suppression remains challenging. We identify such a mechanism in locally dephased constrained Rydberg chains through exact slow-mode selection. For constrained single-spin-flip Hamiltonians, local dephasing turns the Hamiltonian itself into an exact left Liouvillian eigenmode, L†(H)=−γH. A finite-temperature reference state generically overlaps with this H-like slow mode, whereas translationally invariant states with Tr(Hρ0)=0 remove it and are confined to the Q=0 operator sector. When the next visible Q=0 mode decays faster, these selected states exhibit a strong quantum Mpemba effect. We demonstrate this mechanism in the PXP chain for a zero-energy scar eigenstate, the all-zero product state, and a translation-invariant Z2 cat state, and show that it persists in the (2,3) model and the longer-range blockade family. Our results identify Liouvillian mode visibility, rather than special scar wave functions, as the organizing principle for anomalously fast relaxation in constrained open quantum systems.
Anomalously fast heating of ground states in dephased SU(N) spin systems
We identify a strong quantum Mpemba effect in which a many-body ground state heats faster than every Gibbs state at finite positive temperature under the same dissipative dynamics within a fixed-color sector. In ferromagnetic SU(N) exchange systems with local dephasing, exact coherence shells confine the ground-state evolution and exclude all slower Liouvillian modes. Its relaxation rate is fixed by the bath, independently of system size, exchange graph, and integrability. We derive an energy-resolved sign criterion that guarantees a slower thermal contribution throughout the positive-temperature range. An exact finite-chain solution proves this rate inversion, and symmetry-resolved calculations confirm the criterion in larger spin-one chains, including nonintegrable exchange. The zero-temperature endpoint of a continuous Gibbs family can therefore be dynamically isolated by its exact exclusion from slow relaxation channels.
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 tM is found to scale with the subsystem size NA as tM∼NAz, with the dynamical exponent 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.
The quantum Mpemba effect refers to the counterintuitive phenomenon in which a system initially farther from equilibrium relaxes faster than one prepared closer to it. Several mechanisms have been identified in open quantum systems to explain this behavior, including the strong Mpemba effect, non-Markovian memory, and initial system-reservoir entanglement. Here, we unveil a distinct mechanism rooted in the non-normal nature of the Liouvillian superoperator in Markovian dynamics. When the Liouvillian's eigenmodes are non-orthogonal, transient interference between decaying modes can induce anomalous early-time behavior-such as delayed thermalization or transient freezing-even though asymptotic decay rates remain unchanged. This differs fundamentally from strong Mpemba effects, which hinge on suppressed overlap with slow-decaying modes. We demonstrate this mechanism using a waveguide quantum electrodynamics model, where quantum emitters interact with the photonic modes of a one-dimensional waveguide. The directional and radiative nature of these couplings naturally introduces non-normality into the system's dynamics. As a result, certain initial states-despite being closer to equilibrium-can exhibit slower relaxation at short times. This work reveals a previously unexplored and universal source of Mpemba-like behavior in memoryless quantum systems, expanding the theoretical framework for anomalous relaxation and opening new avenues for control in engineered quantum platforms.
We unveil a quantum Pontus-Mpemba effect enabled by the Liouvillian skin effect in a dissipative tight-binding chain with asymmetric incoherent hopping and coherent boundary coupling. The skin effect, induced by non-reciprocal dissipation, localizes relaxation modes near the system boundaries and gives rise to non-orthogonal spectral geometry. While such non-normality is often linked to slow relaxation, we show that it can instead accelerate relaxation through a two-step protocol - realizing a quantum Pontus-Mpemba effect. Specifically, we consider a one-dimensional open chain with coherent hopping J, asymmetric incoherent hoppings JR=JL, and a controllable end-to-end coupling ε. For ε=0, the system exhibits the Liouvillian skin effect, with left and right eigenmodes localized at opposite edges. We compare two relaxation protocols toward the same stationary state: (i) a direct relaxation with ε=0, and (ii) a two-step (Pontus) protocol where a brief coherent evolution transfers the excitation across the lattice before relaxation. Although both share the same asymptotic decay rate, the two-step protocol relaxes significantly faster due to its reduced overlap with the slow boundary-localized Liouvillian mode. The effect disappears when JR=JL, i.e., when the skin effect vanishes. Our results reveal a clear connection between boundary-induced non-normality and protocol-dependent relaxation acceleration, suggesting new routes for controlling dissipation and transient dynamics in open quantum systems.
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.