Expedited thermalization dynamics in incommensurate systems
Phys. Rev. A 112, 042210 – Published 14 October, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/9qkm-35y1
Abstract
We study the thermalization dynamics of a quantum system embedded in an incommensurate potential and coupled to a Markovian thermal reservoir. The dephasing induced by the bath drives the system toward an infinite-temperature steady state, erasing all initial information-including signatures of localization. We find that initially localized states can relax to the homogeneous steady state faster than delocalized states. Moreover, low-temperature initial states thermalize to infinite temperature more rapidly than high-temperature states—a phenomenon reminiscent of the Mpemba effect, in which hotter liquids freeze faster than colder ones. The slowest relaxation mode in the Liouvillian spectrum plays a critical role in the expedited thermalization for localized or cold initial states. Our results reveal that the combination of disordered structure and environmental dissipation may lead to nontrivial thermalization behavior, which advances both the conceptual framework of the Mpemba effect and the theoretical understanding of nonequilibrium processes in dissipative disordered systems.
