In a new Nature Communications study, scientists have demonstrated the quantum version of the strong Mpemba effect (sME) in a single trapped ion system. The Mpemba effect is a counterintuitive ...

Erasto Mpemba’s observations initiated decades of research into the Mpemba effect: whether a liquid (typically water) which is initially hot can freeze faster than the same liquid which begins cold.

Erasto Mpemba’s observations initiated decades of research into the Mpemba effect: whether a liquid (typically water) which is initially hot can freeze faster than the same liquid which begins cold.

Here, using a colloidal particle in a heat bath, we present experimental evidence for this inverse Mpemba effect. By carefully choosing the energy landscape, we can make the cold system heat up ...