Generalized thermodynamic potentials for mesoscopic conductors in the presence of transport

TL;DR

This paper introduces a generalized thermodynamic potential framework for describing nonequilibrium steady states in phase-coherent mesoscopic conductors, accounting for Coulomb interactions and dissipation at contacts.

Contribution

It develops a novel theoretical approach using partial densities of states to model nonequilibrium in mesoscopic conductors with Coulomb interactions and contact dissipation.

Findings

The theory satisfies charge conservation and gauge invariance.

Applied to a mesoscopic capacitor with leakage, demonstrating practical relevance.

Provides a unified thermodynamic description of nonequilibrium mesoscopic systems.

Abstract

It is shown that the nonequilibrium steady-state of a phase-coherent conductor can be described by a generalized thermodynamic potential based on the concept of partial densities of states. This is possible due to the fact that dissipation takes place only in the contacts for the emitted carriers. Long-range Coulomb interaction is included, and charge conservation and gauge invariance are satisfied. The theory is illustrated for a mesoscopic capacitor with leakage.