Mpemba effect for a Brownian particle trapped in a single well potential

Abstract

Mpemba effect refers to the counterintuitive phenomenon of a hotter system equilibrating faster than a colder system when both are quenched to the same low temperature. For a Brownian particle trapped in a piece-wise linear single well potential that is devoid of any other metastable minima we show the existence of Mpemba effect for a wide range of parameters through an exact solution. This result challenges the prevalent explanation of the Mpemba effect that requires the energy landscape to be rugged with multiple minima. We also demonstrate the existence of inverse and strong Mpemba effects.

5 pages, 4 figures