Unified theory explains paradox of freezing water water thrown into air to make snow

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"Unified theory explains paradox of freezing water water thrown into air to make snow

Here’s an oddity of nature: Hot water seems to freeze faster than cold water. But it turns out that the phenomenon, called the Mpemba effect after a Tanzanian teenager who first noticed it in the 1960s, occurs in a variety of materials, from crystallizing polymers to magnets. More recently, the effects have turned up in the quantum realm, such as single ions suspended with lasers.

Now, a new theoretical framework,  ... stitches the assorted Mpemba effects together. It explains how, in each case, a system that’s pushed farther from equilibrium can find a quicker path back to a steady state. “ ...

The shortcuts to equilibrium are not just curios of nature; if scientists can identify the initial conditions that give rise to Mpemba effects, they could optimize all kinds of processes. That could lead to more efficient cooling and heating schemes, and in the quantum realm, could help speed up quantum computers and the preparation of quantum states."

"... It turns out water was only the tip of the iceberg. Over the past decade, scientists have uncovered similar “Mpemba effects” in a zoo of different materials—from crystallizing polymers to magnets. More recently, the effects have turned up in the quantum realm, such as single ions suspended with lasers. ..."

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Hot things can freeze faster than cool ones. Now, this paradox has gone quantum (no public access)

Resource-Theoretical Unification of Mpemba Effects: Classical and Quantum (open access)

Fig. 1 In a resource-theoretic framework, the Mpemba effect occurs when a state that initially possesses more of a given resource depletes that resource faster than a less resourceful state, under the evolution by the same free operation, so that their resource monotones cross. This single picture unifies a variety of anomalous equilibration phenomena (for example, restoring thermal equilibrium or symmetry in classical and quantum systems). Mpemba physics then becomes the study of why different initial states dissipate resources at different rates and how we can harness those differences to engineer exotic effects such as ultrafast cooling. In this article, we apply this analysis to the specific resource theories shown in the schematic.