This thesis investigates the full-counting statistics (FCS) of charge and spin transport using nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) in non-interacting systems. \nGenerating function (GF) encodes all the distribution information and is the key of FCS. For the charge statistics, GF is expressed with respect to the modified evolution operator on the complex contour using the two time measurement scheme, the modified evolution operator is expressed in terms of the modified Hamiltonian. Using Keldysh NEGF technique, GF has the form of Fredholm determinant in terms of Greens functions and self-energies in the time domain. In the long time limit, the celebrated Levitov-Lesovik's formula and the fluctuation relation are derived from this formalism. GF of charge statistics for the quantum point contact system in the transient regime is obtained as well. The transient dynamics in lead-dot-lead transport system, including the cumulants of transferred charges and waiting time distribution defined under the transient regime for different temperatures is investigated numerically. A detailed description on how to calculate the GF in the time domain is presented. Generalizations of the formalism to the ferromagnet-normal-ferromagnet system to investigate the FCS of charge current, spin current and spin transfer torque (STT) are presented. GFs in time domain are Fredholm determinants expressed by NEGF as well. As an application of FCS, a formalism using FCS of STT in the long time limit to calculate the switching probability of a nanomagnet system is proposed. The formalism enables us to calculate the switching probability for nonequilibrium systems which are non-Gaussian. From the stochastic Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation, the contributions to the change of the anisotropic energy, one is from the power gain due to Gilbert damping and the other is from power dissipation due to the spin transfer torque, were derived. Optimal path approximation which requires the nanomagnet a modestly large volume is presented and the approximation greatly reduces the numerical complexities. This formalism could be used to predict the switching probability numerically for real systems in combination with the first principle calculation.
This thesis investigates the full-counting statistics (FCS) of charge and spin transport using nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) in non-interacting systems. \nGenerating function (GF) encodes all the distribution information and is the key of FCS. For the charge statistics, GF is expressed with respect to the modified evolution operator on the complex contour using the two time measurement scheme, the modified evolution operator is expressed in terms of the modified Hamiltonian. Using Keldysh NEGF technique, GF has the form of Fredholm determinant in terms of Greens functions and self-energies in the time domain. In the long time limit, the celebrated Levitov-Lesovik's formula and the fluctuation relation are derived from this formalism. GF of charge statistics for the quantum point contact system in the transient regime is obtained as well. The transient dynamics in lead-dot-lead transport system, including the cumulants of transferred charges and waiting time distribution defined under the transient regime for different temperatures is investigated numerically. A detailed description on how to calculate the GF in the time domain is presented. Generalizations of the formalism to the ferromagnet-normal-ferromagnet system to investigate the FCS of charge current, spin current and spin transfer torque (STT) are presented. GFs in time domain are Fredholm determinants expressed by NEGF as well. As an application of FCS, a formalism using FCS of STT in the long time limit to calculate the switching probability of a nanomagnet system is proposed. The formalism enables us to calculate the switching probability for nonequilibrium systems which are non-Gaussian. From the stochastic Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation, the contributions to the change of the anisotropic energy, one is from the power gain due to Gilbert damping and the other is from power dissipation due to the spin transfer torque, were derived. Optimal path approximation which requires the nanomagnet a modestly large volume is presented and the approximation greatly reduces the numerical complexities. This formalism could be used to predict the switching probability numerically for real systems in combination with the first principle calculation.
In this thesis, certain aspects of time-dependent quantum transport properties in nanoscale structures are investigated using the non-equilibrium Green’s function(NEGF). For the transient behaviors of the electric current and heat current after a quantum quench, the exact analytical solution beyond the wide band limit (WBL) is obtained for the first time which paves a way to simulate realistic physical systems. The time-dependent thermoelectric effects are evaluated based on this general solution and it is shown that the time-dependent thermopower is significantly enhanced in the transient regime. By taking initial correlation into account, the combined Caroli and Cini scheme in quantum transport is proposed and its exact solution beyond WBL is derived for the first time as well. Furthermore, besides the average electric current, a current conserving and gauge invariant formalism for the total electric current operator is established at equilibrium state with the help of the electric displacement current operator formulated by taking the Coulomb interaction into account at the operator level. By means of the NEGF and the scattering matrix theory (SMT), a current conserving theory for equilibrium noise power at finite frequencies is obtained which solves one of the fundamental problems in quantum transport. A generalized equilibrium fluctuation-dissipation theorem is presented. Moreover, the entanglement entropy \nfluctuation and its distribution are investigated by introducing the entanglement entropy operator. The essential feature of the entanglement entropy generated by quantum transport is that it is a stochastic quantity whose fluctuation and distribution can be obtained from the generating function (GF). Combining the NEGF with the Grassmann algebras, it is found that the GF of entanglement \nentropy can be expressed in terms of the lesser Green’s function of the subsystem. The general relation connecting the full counting statistics (FCS) of charge transfer with the GF of entanglement entropy is found which indicates that, from the experimental point of view, the entanglement entropy fluctuation can be measured indirectly. As an illustration of the general theoretical framework of entanglement entropy fluctuation, the quantum point contact (QPC) system as well as the quantum dot (QD) system are studied. It is shown that for a QPC under dc bias, the entanglement entropy is maximized and fluctuationless when the transmission coefficient T is one-half. For the quantum dot system, at short times, a universal scaling relation among transient peak values of cumulants of entanglement entropy is shown.
The calculation of the full counting statistics (FCS) for quantum mechanical systems has attracted much attention in recent years. In this thesis the FCS for superconducting quantum point contacts have been calculated. Such quantum point contacts frequently occur in modern microelectronic devices, which exploit the special features of superconductors. The FCS for normal metal-superconductor and superconductor-superconductor contacts have been calculated using a generalized Keldysh formalism and the results have been compared to both experimental and theoretical results. The calculation of the FCS allows a precise understanding of the physical nature of charge transfer. Particularly doubled shot noise due to Andreev reflections was explained and the behaviour of the Josephson current for long measurement times was calculated. The obtained results are also valuable for the understanding of transport through quantum dots with superconducting leads.
Exact numerical results for the full counting statistics (FCS) for a one-dimensional tight-binding model of noninteracting electrons are presented without using an idealized measuring device. The two initially separate subsystems are connected at t=0 and the exact time evolution for the large but finite combined system is obtained numerically via a finite dimensional determinant. Even for surprisingly short times the approximate description of the time evolution with the help of scattering states agrees well with the exact result for the local current matrix elements and the FCS. An additional approximation has to be made to recover the Levitov-Lesovik formula in the limit where the system size becomes infinite and afterwards the long time limit is addressed. The derivation of the Levitov-Lesovik formula is generalized to more general geometries such as a Y junction enclosing a magnetic flux.
We analyze the full counting statistics (FCS) of the charge transport through the Anderson impurity model (AIM) and similar systems with a single conducting channel. The object of principal interest is the generating function for the cumulants of charge current distribution. We derive an exact analytic formula relating the FCS generating function to the self energy of the system in the presence of the measuring field. We first check that our approach reproduces correctly known results in simple limits, such as the FCS of the resonant level system (AIM without Coulomb interaction). We then proceed to study the FCS for the AIM both perturbatively in the Coulomb interaction and in the Kondo regime at the Toulouse point (we also study a related model of a spinless single-site quantum dot coupled to two half-infinite metallic leads in the Luttinger liquid phase at a special interaction strength). At zero temperature the FCS turns out to be binomial for small voltages. For the generic case of arbitrary energy scales the FCS is shown to be captured very well by generalizations of the Levitov-Lesovik type formula. Surprisingly, the FCS for the AIM indicates a presence of coherent electron pair tunnelling in addition to conventional single-particle processes. By means of perturbative expansions around the Toulouse point we succeeded in showing the universality of the binomial FCS at zero temperature in linear response. Based on our general formula for the FCS we then argue for a more general binomial theorem stating that the linear response zero-temperature FCS for any interacting single-channel setup is always binomial.
The study of electrical currents in a regime where a description as a continuous flow fails and the particle nature becomes important, but where notions such as particle density or currents continue to be meaningful, will be at the heart of the present dissertation. Given such a mesoscopic system through which electrons flow, either actively through quantum pumping or passively due to a potential difference, we investigate quantities such as transferred charge, noise, current fluctuations, and relations between them. More generally we shall examine the statistics of particle transport. All discussions will concentrate on compact devices transferring charge between two one-dimensional reservoirs (the leads) of independent electrons. Firstly, we consider the generating function of the moments of transferred charge and we prove that it is given by the determinant of a single-particle operator. It is formally equivalent to a formula of Lesovik and Levitov, but is shown to be well-defined in the situations under consideration, whereas the former is not, in general. The mechanism leading to regularization is typical for mesoscopic systems: we consider a limiting case that reveals the fundamental structure of the problem. In fact, as suited for an open system, the leads contain an infinite number of charges. It follows mathematically that the second quantization ought to be carried out upon the Fermi sea and not upon the vacuum, a procedure known as the GNS construction. We shall rely heavily on operator algebraic techniques. The set of observables, the C*-algebra of canonical anticommutation relations, admits different representations for systems in the thermodynamic limit, which are described by their reduced one-particle density matrix. An important question will be the existence of operators such as the charge or the time evolution in a given representation, which induce so-called Bogoliubov transformations. These prerequisites at hand, we shall pose the problem of counting statistics clearly, prove that the regularized determinant emerges naturally, and show that it describes the transport of integer charges with non-negative probabilities. Secondly, we introduce a model of instantaneous scattering in which various examples can be computed explicitely. In particular, we show that the above theorem applies for scattering through a smoothly operating pump over a finite time interval. We also exhibit situations where the propagator does exist but the generating function is ambiguous. In a more computational approach, we then turn to the relation of individual moments of transferred charge to current correlators. It turns out that the former can indeed be expressed as integrals of the latter over time, provided the current operators are ordered according to Matthews’ T∗ ordering. It is given by first arranging the charge operators according to their time indices, and only then taking the time derivatives, which induce contact terms whose singular support lies along time coincidences. We shall give two derivations of this result, because the first one is transparent, and the second one is related to contradictory computations in the literature where the system is considered to be measured by an external spin. In the model of constant instantaneous scattering, we then argue from the Lesovik-Levitov determinant that the transport can be interpreted in terms of a binomial process in the long time limit. In a parallel computation, we concentrate on the third cumulant as defined by integration of current correlators and show how the contact terms of the T∗ ordering play an essential role in providing the expected binomial result, too. To close this thesis, we suggest an algebraic framework that lays the foundations for a rigorous discussion of the Casimir effect. The problem of infinites arising in the comparison of two physical situations for a bosonic field is interpreted as the non-equivalence of states on the algebra of canonical commutation relations. We exhibit sufficient conditions on the one-particle Hamiltonians which ensure that the Casimir energy is finite and give an expression for it. We discuss its formal equivalence with the result obtained from the standard mode summing method.
We derive the large deviation function, which provides the large-time full counting statistics for the charge transfer, in the non-equilibrium steady state of the resonant-level model. The general form of this function in free fermion models, in terms of transmission coefficients, was proposed by Levitov and Lesovik in 1993 using a particular measurement set-up involving an interacting spin. It was later suggested to hold as well for a proper quantum mechanical measurement of the transferred charge. We give a precise proof of both statements in the resonant-level model. We first give a full description of the model and its steady state. That is, we explain how the decoupled system prepared with a charge differential evolves, with the impurity coupling, towards the Hershfield non-equilibrium density matrix, in the sense of averages of finitely supported operators. We describe how this holds both for the usual resonant-level model with a point-like impurity, and for a regularized model with an impurity spread on a finite region, shedding light on subtleties associated to the point-like impurity. We then prove Levitov-Lesovik formula by recasting the problem into calculating averages of finitely supported operators.