Shot noise in the self-dual Interacting Resonant Level Model

By using two independent and complementary approaches, we compute exactly the shot noise in an out-of-equilibrium interacting impurity model, the Interacting Resonant Level model at its self-dual point. An analytical approach based on the Thermodynamical Bethe Ansatz allows to obtain the density matrix in the presence of a bias voltage, which in turn allows for the computation of any observable. A time-dependent Density Matrix Renormalization Group technique, that has proven to yield the correct result for a free model (the Resonant Level Model) is shown to be in perfect agreement with the former method.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Numerical Evaluation of Shot Noise using Real Time Simulations

We present a method to determine the shot noise in quantum systems from knowledge of their time evolution - the latter being obtained using numerical simulation techniques. While our ultimate goal is the study of interacting systems, the main issues for the numerical determination of the noise do not depend on the interactions. To discuss them, we concentrate on the single resonant level model, which consists in a single impurity attached to non-interacting leads, with spinless fermions. We use exact diagonalisations (ED) to obtain time evolution, and are able to use known analytic results as benchmarks. We obtain a complete characterization of finite size effects at zero frequency, where we find that the finite size corrections scale $\propto G^2$, $G$ the differential conductance. We also discuss finite frequency noise, as well as the effects of damping in the leads.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Non-equilibrium electronic transport in a one-dimensional Mott insulator

We calculate the non-equilibrium electronic transport properties of a one-dimensional interacting chain at half filling, coupled to non-interacting leads. The interacting chain is initially in a Mott insulator state that is driven out of equilibrium by applying a strong bias voltage between the leads. For bias voltages above a certain threshold we observe the breakdown of the Mott insulator state and the establishment of a steady-state electronic current through the system. Based on extensive time-dependent density matrix renormalization group simulations, we show that this steady-state current always has the same functional dependence on voltage, independent of the microscopic details of the model and relate the value of the threshold to the Lieb-Wu gap. We frame our results in terms of the Landau-Zener dielectric breakdown picture. Finally, we also discuss the real-time evolution of the current, and characterize the current-carrying state resulting from the breakdown of the Mott insulator by computing the double occupancy, the spin structure factor, and the entanglement entropy.Comment: 12 pages RevTex4, 12 eps figures, as published, minor revision

Exact time-dependent density functional theory for impurity models

We employ the density matrix renormalization group to construct the exact time-dependent exchange correlation potential for an impurity model with an applied transport voltage. Even for short-ranged interaction we find an infinitely long-ranged exchange correlation potential which is built up {instantly} after switching on the voltage. Our result demonstrates the fundamental difficulties of transport calculations based on time-dependent density functional theory. While formally the approach works, important information can be missing in the ground-state functionals and may be hidden in the usually unknown non-equilibrium functionals

Numerical method for non-linear steady-state transport in one-dimensional correlated conductors

We present a method for investigating the steady-state transport properties of one-dimensional correlated quantum systems. Using a procedure based on our analysis of finite-size effects in a related classical model (LC line) we show that stationary currents can be obtained from transient currents in finite systems driven out of equilibrium. The non-equilibrium dynamics of correlated quantum systems is calculated using the time-evolving block decimation method. To demonstrate our method we determine the full I-V characteristic of the spinless fermion model with nearest-neighbour hopping t_H and interaction V_H using two different setups to generate currents (turning on/off a potential bias). Our numerical results agree with exact results for non-interacting fermions (V_H=0). For interacting fermions we find that in the linear regime eV << 4t_H the current I is independent from the setup and our numerical data agree with the predictions of the Luttinger liquid theory combined with the Bethe Ansatz solution. For larger potentials V the steady-state current depends on the current-generating setup and as V increases we find a negative differential conductance with one setup while the currents saturate at finite values in the other one. Both effects are due to finite renormalized bandwidths.Comment: published versio

Embedding method for the scattering phase in strongly correlated quantum dots

The embedding method for the calculation of the conductance through interacting systems connected to single channel leads is generalized to obtain the full complex transmission amplitude that completely characterizes the effective scattering matrix of the system at the Fermi energy. We calculate the transmission amplitude as a function of the gate potential for simple diamond-shaped lattice models of quantum dots with nearest neighbor interactions. In our simple models we do not generally observe an interaction dependent change in the number of zeroes or phase lapses that depend only on the symmetry properties of the underlying lattice. Strong correlations separate and reduce the widths of the resonant peaks while preserving the qualitative properites of the scattering phase.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Proceedings of the Workshop on Advanced Many-Body and Statistical Methods in Mesoscopic Systems, Constanta, Romania, June 27th - July 2nd 2011. To appear in Journal of Physics: Conference Serie

Nonlinear Transport through Quantum Dots Studied by the Time-Dependent DMRG

Recent developments on studies of transport through quantum dots obtained by applying the time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method are summarized. Some new aspects of Kondo physics which appear in nonequilibrium steady states are discussed both for the single dot case and for the serially coupled double-quantum-dot case.Comment: 8 pages, 15 figure

Time-dependent bond-current functional theory for lattice Hamiltonians: fundamental theorem and application to electron transport

The cornerstone of time-dependent (TD) density functional theory (DFT), the Runge-Gross theorem, proves a one-to-one correspondence between TD potentials and TD densities of continuum Hamiltonians. In all practical implementations, however, the basis set is discrete and the system is effectively described by a lattice Hamiltonian. We point out the difficulties of generalizing the Runge-Groos proof to the discrete case and thereby endorse the recently proposed TD bond-current functional theory (BCFT) as a viable alternative. TDBCFT is based on a one-to-one correspondence between TD Peierl's phases and TD bond-currents of lattice systems. We apply the TDBCFT formalism to electronic transport through a simple interacting device weakly coupled to two biased non-interacting leads. We employ Kohn-Sham Peierl's phases which are discontinuous functions of the density, a crucial property to describe Coulomb blockade. As shown by explicit time propagations, the discontinuity may prevent the biased system from ever reaching a steady state.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure