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We examine relativistic diffusion through the frame and observer bundles associated with a Lorentzian manifold $(M,g)$. Our focus is on spacetimes with a non-trivial isometry group, and we detail the conditions required to find symmetric solutions of the relativistic diffusion equation. Additionally, we analyze the conservation laws associated with the presence of Killing vector fields on $(M,g)$ and their implications for the expressions of the geodesic spray and the vertical Laplacian on both the frame and the observer bundles. Finally, we present several relevant examples of symmetric spacetimes., Comment: 29 pages. Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical

Many systems, when initially placed far from equilibrium, exhibit surprising behavior in their attempt to equilibrate. Striking examples are the Mpemba effect and the cooling-heating asymmetry. These anomalous behaviors can be exploited to shorten the time needed to cool down (or heat up) a system. Though, a strategy to design these effects in mesoscopic systems is missing. We bring forward a description that allows us to formulate such strategies, and, along the way, makes natural these paradoxical behaviors. In particular, we study the evolution of macroscopic physical observables of systems freely relaxing under the influence of one or two instantaneous thermal quenches. The two crucial ingredients in our approach are timescale separation and a nonmonotonic temperature evolution of an important state function. We argue that both are generic features near a first-order transition. Our theory is exemplified with the one-dimensional Ising model in a magnetic field using analytic results and numerical experiments., Comment: pdflatex. Main text (6pp + 5 pdf figures) + Supplemental Material (7pp + 5 pdf figures). Some minor changes w.r.t. v1. Final version

Weakly coupled semiconductor superlattices under dc voltage bias are nonlinear systems with many degrees of freedom whose nonlinearity is due to sequential tunneling of electrons. They may exhibit spontaneous chaos at room temperature and act as fast physical random number generator devices. Here we present a general sequential transport model with different voltage drops at quantum wells and barriers that includes noise and fluctuations due to the superlattice epitaxial growth. Excitability and oscillations of the current in superlattices with identical periods are due to nucleation and motion of charge dipole waves that form at the emitter contact when the current drops below a critical value. Insertion of wider wells increases superlattice excitability by allowing wave nucleation at the modified wells and more complex dynamics. Then hyperchaos and different types of intermittent chaos are possible on extended dc voltage ranges. Intrinsic shot and thermal noises and external noises produce minor effects on chaotic attractors. However, random disorder due to growth fluctuations may suppress any regular or chaotic current oscillations. Numerical simulations show that more than 70\% of samples remain chaotic when the standard deviation of their fluctuations due to epitaxial growth is below 0.024 nm (10\% of a single monolayer) whereas for 0.015 nm disorder suppresses chaos., Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures

Cooling and heating faster a system is a crucial problem in science, technology and industry. Indeed, choosing the best thermal protocol to reach a desired temperature or energy is not a trivial task. Noticeably, we find that the phase transitions may speed up thermalization in systems where there are no conserved quantities. In particular, we show that the slow growth of magnetic domains shortens the overall time that the system takes to reach a final desired state. To prove that statement, we use intensive numerical simulations of a prototypical many-body system, namely the 2D Ising model., Comment: The document contains the paper (pdflatex, 11 pages), and 12 pdf figures. Final version to be published

Collective electron transport causes a weakly coupled semiconductor superlattice under dc voltage bias to be an excitable system with $2N+2$ degrees of freedom: electron densities and fields at $N$ superlattice periods plus the total current and the field at the injector. External noise of sufficient amplitude induces regular current self-oscillations (coherence resonance) in states that are stationary in the absence of noise. Numerical simulations show that these oscillations are due to the repeated nucleation and motion of charge dipole waves that form at the emitter when the current falls below a critical value. At the critical current, the well-to-well tunneling current intersects the contact load line. We have determined the device-dependent critical current for the coherence resonance from experiments and numerical simulations. We have also described through numerical simulations how a coherence resonance triggers a stochastic resonance when its oscillation mode becomes locked to a weak ac external voltage signal. Our results agree with the experimental observations., Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures, preprint version including suppl. material