Quantum transport using the Ford-Kac-Mazur formalism

Abstract

The Ford-Kac-Mazur formalism is used to study quantum transport in (1) electronic and (2) harmonic oscillator systems connected to general reservoirs. It is shown that for noninteracting systems the method is easy to implement and is used to obtain many exact results on electrical and thermal transport in one-dimensional disordered wires. Some of these have earlier been obtained using nonequilibrium Green function methods. We examine the role that reservoirs and contacts can have on determining the transport properties of a wire and find several interesting effects.