Scattering theory of adiabatic reaction forces due to out-of-equilibrium quantum environments

TL;DR

This paper develops a scattering theory framework to analyze adiabatic reaction forces in nanoelectromechanical systems, providing a more natural derivation based on the electronic S-matrix and its corrections.

Contribution

It introduces a scattering theory approach to derive adiabatic reaction forces, extending previous models to open quantum systems with out-of-equilibrium environments.

Findings

Derivation of reaction forces using scattering matrices.

Extension of adiabatic force theory to open quantum systems.

More efficient and natural derivation method.

Abstract

The Landauer-Buettiker theory of mesoscopic conductors was recently extended to nanoelectromechanical systems. In this extension, the adiabatic reaction forces exerted by the electronic degrees of freedom on the mechanical modes were expressed in terms of the electronic S-matrix and its first non-adiabatic correction, the A-matrix. Here, we provide a more natural and efficient derivation of these results within the setting and solely with the methods of scattering theory. Our derivation is based on a generic model of a slow classical degree of freedom coupled to a quantum-mechanical scattering system, extending previous work on adiabatic reaction forces for closed quantum systems.