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Nonequilibrium Transport and Dephasing in Coulomb-Blockaded Quantum Dots

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Modern Theories of Many-Particle Systems in Condensed Matter Physics

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Physics ((LNP,volume 843))

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Abstract

We provide an introduction to the nonequilibrium physics encountered in quantum dots. A brief summary of the relevant Coulomb blockade physics and a concise account of the Keldysh functional integral method is followed by a derivation of the Keldysh Ambegaokar-Eckern-Schön action, which represents a prototypical model for charge transport through quantum dots. We show that the nonequilibrium current fluctuations cause a dephasing that can be probed via the tunneling density of states. We provide analytical and numerical estimates for the corresponding dephasing rates.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The time-ordering operator is defined as \({\mathcal T} [A(t_1) B(t_2)]= \Uptheta(t_1-t_2) A(t_1) B(t_2) + \Uptheta(t_2-t_1) B(t_2) A(t_1).\)

  2. 2.

    The value of \(\Uptheta(0)\) follows from the discrete version (finite N). Consistent results follow, e.g., with \(\Uptheta(0)=1/2.\)

  3. 3.

    We can extend the lower limit for the integral to \(-\infty,\) since we could have started with the interval \([-t_f/2,t_f/2].\)

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge support by the SFB Transregio 12 by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität zu Köln, 50937, Köln, Germany

    Alexander Altland

  2. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Reinhold Egger

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  1. Alexander Altland
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  2. Reinhold Egger
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Correspondence to Alexander Altland .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Departamento de Física/IFLP, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, 1900, Argentina

    Daniel C. Cabra

  2. , Institut für Theoretische Physik, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, Göttingen, 37077, Germany

    Andreas Honecker

  3. , Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, Université Paul Sabatier, Route de Narbonne 118, Toulouse Cedex 4, 31062, France

    Pierre Pujol

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Altland, A., Egger, R. (2012). Nonequilibrium Transport and Dephasing in Coulomb-Blockaded Quantum Dots. In: Cabra, D., Honecker, A., Pujol, P. (eds) Modern Theories of Many-Particle Systems in Condensed Matter Physics. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 843. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10449-7_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10449-7_5

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