2016/11/30 by Antonio Lasanta, Francisco Vega Reyes, Antonio Prados +1 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.119.148001
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 148001 (2017) · 6 pages, 4 figures; v2: molecular dynamics results added
arxiv created 2017/10/05 · arxiv updated 2017/10/06
Under certain conditions, two samples of fluid at different initial temperatures present a counterintuitive behavior known as the Mpemba effect: it is the hotter system that cools sooner. Here, we show that the Mpemba effect is present in granular fluids, both in uniformly heated and in freely cooling systems. In both cases, the system remains homogeneous, and no phase transition is present. Analytical quantitative predictions are given for how differently the system must be initially prepared to observe the Mpemba effect, the theoretical predictions being confirmed by both molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations. Possible implications of our analysis for other systems are also discussed.