Prethermal inverse Mpemba effect

Abstract

The inverse Mpemba effect is a counterintuitive phenomenon in which a system, initially in thermal equilibrium and prepared at different temperatures below that of the final equilibrium state, relaxes to the final state more rapidly when starting from a lower initial temperature. We extend this concept to the relaxation toward a prethermal state in isolated quantum systems. By examining a simple model that exhibits prethermalization, we demonstrate that this effect indeed manifests under periodic driving. We further discuss the realization of this phenomenon in a variety of systems within a unified theoretical framework.