On the shot-noise limit of a thermal current

TL;DR

This paper calculates the shot-noise limit of thermal current noise between two dielectric bodies connected by a quantum point contact, modeling phonon transport as a harmonic link and deriving an analog to electronic shot-noise.

Contribution

It introduces a model for phonon-mediated thermal shot-noise in a weak coupling regime, extending shot-noise concepts to thermal currents.

Findings

Derived the thermal current shot-noise expression for phonons.

Established the analogy between electronic and thermal shot-noise.

Provided a theoretical framework for thermal noise in quantum contacts.

Abstract

The noise power spectral density of a thermal current between two macroscopic dielectric bodies held at different temperatures and connected only at a quantum point contact is calculated. Assuming the thermal energy is carried only by phonons, we model the quantum point contact as a mechanical link, having a harmonic spring potential. In the weak coupling, or weak-link limit, we find the thermal current analog of the well-known electronic shot-noise expression.