Interaction effects on thermal transport in quantum wires.

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2011 · Physical Review. B. Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.84.115447· OSTI ID:1028609

Levchenko, A; Micklitz, T; Ristivojevic, Z; Matveev, K A ^[1]

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1. Materials Science Division

We develop a theory of thermal transport of weakly interacting electrons in quantum wires. Unlike higher-dimensional systems, a one-dimensional electron gas requires three-particle collisions for energy relaxation. The fastest relaxation is provided by the intrabranch scattering of comoving electrons which establishes a partially equilibrated form of the distribution function. The thermal conductance is governed by the slower interbranch processes which enable energy exchange between counterpropagating particles. We derive an analytic expression for the thermal conductance of interacting electrons valid for arbitrary relation between the wire length and electron thermalization length. We find that in sufficiently long wires the interaction-induced correction to the thermal conductance saturates to an interaction-independent value.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: SC
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1028609
• Report Number(s): ANL/MSD/JA-70429
• Journal Information: Physical Review. B. Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Journal Name: Physical Review. B. Condensed Matter and Materials Physics Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 84; ISSN 1098-0121
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
COLLISIONS
CORRECTIONS
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELECTRON GAS
ELECTRON-ELECTRON INTERACTIONS
ENERGY TRANSFER
LENGTH
PARTICLES
QUANTUM WIRES
RELAXATION
SCATTERING
THERMALIZATION
TRANSPORT
WIRES