Heat currents in electronic junctions driven by telegraph noise

TL;DR

This paper investigates how telegraph noise from a defect influences energy and charge transport in electronic junctions, revealing that noise can induce temperature gradients even without bias.

Contribution

It introduces a stochastic electric field model to analyze energy and charge fluxes in a junction affected by telegraph noise, highlighting the environment's role in energy distribution.

Findings

Noise supplies energy unevenly to reservoirs

Unbiased junctions can develop temperature gradients due to noise

Stronger coupling results in more energy gain by a reservoir

Abstract

The energy and charge fluxes carried by electrons in a two-terminal junction subjected to a random telegraph noise, produced by a single electronic defect, are analyzed. The telegraph processes are imitated by the action of a stochastic electric field that acts on the electrons in the junction. Upon averaging over all random events of the telegraph process, it is found that this electric field supplies, on the average, energy to the electronic reservoirs, which is distributed unequally between them: the stronger is the coupling of the reservoir with the junction, the more energy it gains. Thus the noisy environment can lead to a temperature gradient across an un-biased junction.