Seminario «Nonequilibrium shortcuts and anomalous thermal relaxations: the Mpemba effect»

Seminario a cargo de Gianluca Teza (Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems).

Abstract:

Most of our intuition about the behavior of physical systems is shaped by observations at or near thermal equilibrium. However, even a phenomenon as basic as a thermal quench leads to states far from any thermal equilibrium, where counterintuitive, anomalous, effects can occur. A prime example of anomalous thermal relaxation is the Mpemba effect – a phenomenon in which a system prepared at a hot temperature cools down to the temperature of the cold environment faster than an identical system prepared at a warm temperature. Although originally witnessed in water by Aristotle more than 2000 years ago, perspectives towards the design of optimal heating/cooling protocols and several observations in a variety of systems pushed the development of a high-level characterization in the framework of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics.
In this talk, I will review the phenomenology of this and related anomalous relaxation effects, in which nonmonotonic relaxation times act as the common denominator. With a focus on Ising systems, I will provide some insight on the physical mechanisms that enable the emergence of these effects. I will show how they can survive boundary and even arbitrarily weak couplings to the thermal bath, highlighting the role played by equilibrium and dynamical features. If time allows, I will showcase some preliminary results in the attempt to observe these out-of-equilibrium effects in quantum simulators.

• Fecha: Lunes, 18 de noviembre de 2024
• Lugar: Facultad de Ciencias – aula Aula B01 (ubicada en Sección de Biología)
• Horario: 12.10 h
• Organiza: Departamento de Física Aplicada – NanoTLab
• Más información: Antonio Lasanta y Raúl Rica | nanotlab@ugr.es