Local thermal probe in a one-dimensional chain: An efficient dissipaton-based approach

TL;DR

This paper introduces a nonperturbative, dissipaton-based quantum approach to evaluate heat transport in a one-dimensional molecular chain with a local probe, applicable to complex many-body systems.

Contribution

It develops a hierarchical, non-Markovian dissipaton algebra framework for thermal transport in locally probed systems, extendable to higher dimensions and electronic transport.

Findings

Numerical results show temperature, frequency, and coupling effects on heat current.

The approach accurately captures higher-order interactions and non-Markovian dynamics.

Framework is general for thermal and electronic transport in complex materials.

Abstract

We study a system consisting of an infinite one-dimensional molecular chain and a locally coupled probe. Starting from the Hamiltonian of the chain-probe composite and the corresponding spectral densities, we evaluate the heat current between the probe and the chain. For this purpose, we develop a dissipaton-based quantum approach that is fully nonperturbative and non-Markovian. The dissipaton algebra yields a set of hierarchically coupled equations of motion for the dissipaton moments, with cross-tier connections in an iterative manner if higher-order chain-probe interactions are included. Numerical results demonstrate the effects of temperature, frequency, onsite energy modification and higher-order couplings on heat transport. This work provides a general framework for thermal transport and other properties in locally probed systems and can be straightforwardly extended to higher-dimensional materials and electronic transport problems with strong many-body effects.