The Kubo formula for the electrical conductivity is rewritten in terms of a sum of Drude-like contributions associated to the exact eigenstates of the interacting system, each characterized by its own frequency-dependent relaxation time. The structure of the novel and equivalent formulation, weighting the contribution from each eigenstate by its Boltzmann occupation factor, simplifies considerably the access to the static properties (dc conductivity) and resolves the long standing difficulties to recover the Boltzmann result for dc conductivity from the Kubo formula. It is shown that the Boltzmann result, containing the correct transport scattering time instead of the electron lifetime determined by the Green function, can be recovered in problems with elastic and inelastic scattering at the lowest order of interaction.
We consider a system of weakly interacting Fermions which satisfies all those requirements necessary for the derivation of Van Hove’s weak coupling master equation. We show how the Boltzmann equation can be derived with the help of a Factorisation Theorem which we then prove, in the limit of an infinite system. We then use this Factorisation Theorem to show that the electrical conductivity derived from the Kubo formula is equivalent to the conductivity derived from the Boltzmann equation, for the same system of Fermions. Finally, we illustrate how the theory must be modified for a weakly interacting system of electrons and phonons.
Linear response theory relates hydrodynamic transport coefficients to equilibrium retarded correlation functions of the stress-energy tensor and global symmetry currents in terms of Kubo formulas. Some of these transport coefficients are non-dissipative and affect the fluid dynamics at equilibrium. We present an algebraic framework for deriving Kubo formulas for such thermal transport coefficients by using the equilibrium partition function. We use the framework to derive Kubo formulas for all such transport coefficients of superfluids, as well as to rederive Kubo formulas for various normal fluid systems.
A linear response formalism is developed for evaluation of transport coefficients in quantum many-particle systems. The method is based on a systematic linearization of nonequilibrium Kadanoff-Baym transport equations in an integral form in ac electric fields. Simple and consistent approximations can be performed in the resulting set of transport equations, which replace vertex equations in the Kubo formalism. The method is illustrated by the example of an ac and dc conductivity and conductance for a quasi-one-dimensional electron system with an electron--phonon interaction for three-dimensional acoustical phonons. After approximations standard in metals, the solved transport equations coincide with the Holstein equation. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
The many-body linear response expressions obtained in previous papers [J. Math. Phys. 19, 1345 (1978); 20, 2573 (1979)] are applied to systems of weakly interacting particles. General expressions for the susceptibility and conductivity in such systems are obtained. The diagonal parts depend on the scattering processes, for which we consider interactions with bosons with mass and electron-phonon interaction. For elastic collisions simple closed forms result. For general two-body collisions, the closed expressions are cumbersome, except when the current is due to collisional current through localized states, such as Landau orbits; in that event a generalized Adams-Holstein result is obtained. The nondiagonal electrical conductivity is shown to be of paramount importance for the quantum mechanical Hall effect. We also derive quantum mechanical Boltzmann equations, both for the diagonal occupancy operator 〈nζ〉t and for the nondiagonal operator 〈c+ζ′ cζ\〉t. The total Boltzmann equation is shown to be fully equivalent with the linear response results. Finally, in the last part we derive the Boltzmann equation for the Wigner function of inhomogeneous systems. In the classical limit this yields the usual Boltzmann transport equation. This equation has therefore been obtained by first principles from the von Neumann equation.
\nthe quantum calculation of the d.c. electrical conductivity for an electron system is reconsidered by using an improved form of the long-time solution of the density matrix. The starting time-evolution equation which is written as a linear system in the Liouville space of discrete quantum states, is first solved in terms of Cramer's determinants and next suitably adapted to tranport problems. The calculation of the statistical average of the many-body current density, in the presence of scattering potential, is carried out in the thermodynamic limit, using a characteristic property of collision matrices introduced earlier by van Hove as the so-called
delta-singularity. In contrast to previous methods based on kinetic equations solved by perturbations, Kubo's theory, or Mori type memory functions, the resolution of an integral equation, initially included in Cramer's formulae, is no longer required. Among its major advantages, the method succeeds in overcoming the well known zero frequency divergent behaviour of the conductivity. It also yields an explicit expression of an effective relaxation time which is just constructed out of those diagonal transition sequences responsible for self-energy effects in van Hove's theory. This expression which only assumes the randomization of phases of initial states can be used to get tractable expansions in powers of the collision potential. Its range of validity is limited by the effect of collisions on equilibrium statistics, which is shown to be negligible within the Peierls criterion,
hbar/taullmu,
tau being the relaxation time and
mu the Fermi energy. Finally, the comparison of the present approach with the elementary transport theory reveals that the relaxation time is close to the standard expression, even though the latter would be exactly recovered, in lowest order of collisions, only on disregarding divergent terms arising beyond second order.\n