Theory of Nonequilibrium Coherent Transport through an Interacting Mesoscopic Region Weakly Coupled to Electrodes

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework using nonequilibrium Green functions to analyze coherent transport in mesoscopic systems with interactions, highlighting effects of phase coherence, Coulomb interaction, and nonequilibrium conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a new theory for nonequilibrium coherent transport in interacting mesoscopic regions with weak electrode coupling, including an equation for the distribution function.

Findings

Reveals effects of phase coherence and Coulomb interaction on transport.

Demonstrates the theory with two specific cases.

Highlights the importance of nonequilibrium distribution in transport phenomena.

Abstract

We develop a theory for the nonequilibrium coherent transport through a mesoscopic region, based on the nonequilibrium Green function technique. The theory requires the weak coupling between the central mesoscopic region and the multiple electrodes connected to it, but allows arbitrary hopping and interaction in the central region. An equation determining the nonequilibrium distribution in the central interacting region is derived and plays an important role in the theory. The theory is applied to two special cases for demonstrations, revealing the novel effects associated with the combination of phase coherence, Coulomb interaction, and nonequilibrium distribution.