Mass-induced Mpemba effect in a polymer-bead system
arXiv:2607.15266
The paper presents a model of a polymer-bead system where the Mpemba effect can be tuned by changing the bead’s inertia, showing that higher initial temperature or weaker stretching can speed up relaxation through a force‑extension plateau.
Abstract
We propose a physically motivated model in which the Mpemba effect is induced by the system's inertia. The model describes a polymer undergoing a denaturation transition whose force-extension curve contains a weak-force plateau that slows relaxation. In the presence of inertia, a farther initial state can reach and cross the plateau sooner, producing the Mpemba effect. Increasing the bead mass broadens the range of initial conditions over which this mechanism operates. A similar mechanism also generates the inverse Mpemba effect.
8 pages, 4 figures