We propose a time-dependent many-body approach to study the short-time dynamics of correlated electrons in quantum transport through nanoscale systems contacted to metallic leads. This approach is based on the time-propagation of the Kadanoff-Baym equations for the nonequilibrium many-body Green's function of open and interacting systems out of equilibrium. An important feature of the method is that it takes full account of electronic correlations and embedding effects in the presence of time-dependent external fields, while at the same time satisfying the charge conservation law. The method further extends the Meir-Wingreen formula to the time domain for initially correlated states. We study the electron dynamics of a correlated quantum wire attached to two-dimensional leads exposed to a sudden switch-on of a bias voltage using conserving many-body approximations at Hartree-Fock, second Born and GW level. We obtain detailed results for the transient currents, dipole moments, spectral functions, charging times, and the many-body screening of the quantum wire as well as for the time-dependent density pattern in the leads, and we show how the time-dependence of these observables provides a wealth of information on the level structure of the quantum wire out of equilibrium. For moderate interaction strenghts the 2B and GW results are in excellent agreement at all times. We find that many-body effects beyond the Hartree-Fock approximation have a large effect on the qualitative behavior of the system and lead to a bias dependent gap closing and quasiparticle broadening, shortening of the transient times and washing out of the step features in the current-voltage curves.
We reconsider the Generalized Kadanoff--Baym Ansatz (GKBA) approximation for non-equilibrium Green's functions and extend it to self-consistently define an equilibrium correlated (within GKBA) state in closed systems. The advantage of the proposed prescription is to avoid the preparation of the initial equilibrium correlated state via adiabatic switching-on of the correlations. A simple model system, namely a Hubbard-dimer, is used to illustrate aspects of the computational implementation and performance of the new scheme.
Two aspects of TDDFT, the linear response approach and the adiabatic local density approximation, are examined from the perspective of lattice models. To this end, we review the DFT formulations on the lattice and give a concise presentation of the time-dependent Kadanoff-Baym equations, used to asses the limitations of the adiabatic approximation in TDDFT. We present results for the density response function of the 3D homogeneous Hubbard model, and point out a drawback of the linear response scheme based on the linearized Sham-Schlüter equation. We then suggest a prescription on how to amend …
Here we address two nonequilibrium Green's functions approaches for a resonant tunneling structure under a sudden switch of a bias. Our aim is to stress that the time-dependent Keldysh formulation of Jauho, Wingreen and Meir, and the partition-free scheme of Stefanucci and Almbladh are formally equivalent in the ubiquitous case of wide-band limit and noninteracting electrons, if leads and dot are in equilibrium before the time-dependent perturbation. We develop explicit closed formulas of the lesser Green's function and time-dependent current, reminding that the different integration limits pr…
We study the non-equilibrium dynamics of small, strongly correlated clusters, described by a Hubbard Hamiltonian, by propagating in time the Kadanoff-Baym equations within the Hartree-Fock, 2nd Born, GW and T-matrix approximations. We compare the results to exact numerical solutions. We find that the T-matrix is overall superior to the other approximations, and is in good agreement with the exact results in the low-density regime. In the long time limit, the many-body approximations attain an unphysical steady state which we attribute to the implicit inclusion of infinite order diagrams in a f…
We have developed a time propagation scheme for the Kadanoff-Baym equations for general inhomogeneous systems. These equations describe the time evolution of the nonequilibrium Green function for interacting many-body systems in the presence of time-dependent external fields. The external fields are treated nonperturbatively whereas the many-body interactions are incorporated perturbatively using Phi-derivable self-energy approximations that guarantee the satisfaction of the macroscopic conservation laws of the system. These approximations are discussed in detail for the time-dependent Hartree…
Phonon-mediated relaxation in nanomaterials from combining Density Functional Theory based non-adiabatic molecular dynamics with Kadanoff-Baym-Keldysh technique
We have developed a method based on the embedded Kadanoff-Baym equations to study the time evolution of open and inhomogeneous systems. The equation of motion for the Green's function on the Keldysh contour is solved using different conserving many-body approximations for the self-energy. Our formulation incorporates basic conservation laws, such as particle conservation, and includes both initial correlations and initial embedding effects, without restrictions on the time-dependence of the external driving field. We present results for the time-dependent density, current and dipole moment for…
We benchmark many-body perturbation theory by studying neutral, as well as non-neutral, excitations of finite lattice systems. The neutral excitation spectra are obtained by time-propagating the Kadanoff-Baym equations in the Hartree-Fock and second Born approximations. Our method is equivalent to solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation with a high-level kernel while respecting self-consistently, which guarantees the fulfillment of a frequency sum rule. As a result, we find that a time-local method, such as Hartree-Fock, can give incomplete spectra, while already the second Born, which is the simp…
We present a Kadanoff-Baym formalism to study time-dependent phenomena for systems of interacting electrons and phonons in the framework of many-body perturbation theory. The formalism takes correctly into account effects of the initial preparation of an equilibrium state, and allows for an explicit time-dependence of both the electronic and phononic degrees of freedom. The method is applied to investigate the charge neutral and non-neutral excitation spectra of a homogeneous, two-site, two-electron Holstein model. This is an extension of a previous study of the ground state properties in the …
We present a full ab-inito description of the coupled out-of-equilibrium dynamics of photons, phonons, and electrons. In the present approach the quantised nature of the electromagnetic field as well as of the nuclear oscillations is fully taken into account. The result is a set of integro-differential equations, written on the Keldysh contour, for the Green's functions of electrons, phonons, and photons where the different kind of interactions are merged together. We then concentrate on the electronic dynamics in order to reduce the problem to a computationally feasible approach. By using the…
We study the time-dependent transmission of entanglement entropy through an out-of-equilibrium model interacting device in a quantum transport set-up. The dynamics is performed via the Kadanoff-Baym equations within many-body perturbation theory. The double occupancy $< \hat{n}_{R \uparrow} \hat{n}_{R \downarrow} >$, needed to determine the entanglement entropy, is obtained from the equations of motion of the single-particle Green's function. A remarkable result of our calculations is that $< \hat{n}_{R \uparrow} \hat{n}_{R \downarrow} >$ can become negative, thus not permitting to evaluate th…
The generalized Kadanoff-Baym ansatz (GKBA) offers a computationally inexpensive approach to simulate out-of-equilibrium quantum systems within the framework of nonequilibrium Green's functions. For finite systems the limitation of neglecting initial correlations in the conventional GKBA approach has recently been overcome [Phys. Rev. B 98, 115148 (2018)]. However, in the context of quantum transport the contacted nature of the initial state, i.e., a junction connected to bulk leads, requires a further extension of the GKBA approach. In this work, we lay down a GKBA scheme which includes initi…
Benchmarking the generalized Kadanoff-Baym ansatz and second-order adiabatic expansion using time-dependent spintronic effects: Spin pumping, torque, and inertia
University of Delaware（特拉华大学）；Universidad Nacional de Colombia（哥伦比亚国立大学）
We present a theory of molecular motors based on the Ehrenfest dynamics for the nuclear coordinates and the adiabatic limit of the Kadanoff-Baym equations for the current-induced forces. Electron-electron interactions can be systematically included through many-body perturbation theory, making the nonequilibrium Green's functions formulation suitable for first-principles treatments of realistic junctions. The method is benchmarked against simulations via real-time Kadanoff-Baym equations, finding an excellent agreement. Results on a paradigmatic model of molecular motor show that correlations …
The interaction with time-dependent external fields, especially the interplay between time-dependent driving and quantum correlations, changes the familiar picture of electron transport through nanoscale systems. Although the exact solution of the problem of AC quantum transport of noninteracting electrons has been known for more than two decades, the treatment of correlated particles presents a significant theoretical challenge. In this paper, using the perturbative separation of fast electron tunnelling and slow driving time-scales, we developed a practical approach for time-dependent quantu…
Real-time Green's function simulations of molecular junctions (open quantum systems) are typically performed by solving the Kadanoff-Baym equations (KBE). The KBE, however, impose a serious limitation on the maximum propagation time due to the large memory storage needed. In this work we propose a simplified Green's function approach based on the Generalized Kadanoff-Baym Ansatz (GKBA) to overcome the KBE limitation on time, significantly speed up the calculations, and yet stay close to the KBE results. This is achieved through a twofold advance: first we show how to make the GKBA work in open…
We study time-dependent quantum transport in a correlated model system by means of time-propagation of the Kadanoff-Baym equations for the nonequilibrium many-body Green function. We consider an initially contacted equilibrium system of a correlated central region coupled to tight-binding leads. Subsequently a time-dependent bias is switched on after which we follow in detail the time-evolution of the system. Important features of the Kadanoff-Baym approach are 1) the possibility of studying the ultrafast dynamics of transients and other time-dependent regimes and 2) the inclusion of exchange …
A generalized Landauer formula, derived with the methods due to Keldysh, and Baym and Kadanoff, is gaining widespread use in the modeling of transport in a large number of different mesoscopic systems. We review some of the recent developments, including transport in semiconductor superlattices, calculation of noise, and nanoelectromechanical systems.
A Wigner function representation of multi-band quantum transport theory is developed in this paper. The equations are derived using non-equilibrium Green's function formulation with the generalized Kadanoff-Baym ansatz and the multi-band $\bf{k.p}$ Hamiltonian including spin. The results are applied to a two-band resonant inter-band tunneling structure.
We solve analytically the Kadanoff-Baym equations for a noninteracting junction connected to an arbitrary number of noninteracting wide-band terminals. The initial equilibrium state is properly described by the addition of an imaginary track to the time contour. From the solution we obtain the time-dependent electron densities and currents within the junction. The final results are analytic expressions as a function of time, and therefore no time propagation is needed - either in transient or in steady-state regimes. We further present and discuss some applications of the obtained formulae.
We develop a Wigner function representation of the quantum transport theory of the conduction band electrons in Rashba effect resonant tunneling structures with a phonon bath. In narrow band gap heterostructures, spin splitting occurs mainly as a result of inversion asymmetry in the spatial dependence of the potential or as a result of external electric field. This "zero magnetic field spin splitting" is due to the Rashba term in the effective mass Hamiltonian. The quantum transport equations are derived using multi-band non-equilibrium Green's function formulation in generalized Kadanoff-Baym…
Gain in current-driven semiconductor heterostructure devices is calculated within the theory of nonequilibrium Green functions. In order to treat the nonequilibrium distribution self-consistently the full two-time structure of the theory is employed without relying on any sort of Kadanoff-Baym Ansatz. The results are independent of the choice of the electromagnetic field if the variation of the self-energy is taken into account. Excellent quantitative agreement is obtained with the experimental gain spectrum of a quantum cascade laser. Calculations for semiconductor superlattices show that the…
A simple scheme capable of treating transport in molecular junctions in the language of many-body states is presented. An ansatz in Liouville space similar to generalized Kadanoff-Baym approximation is introduced in order to reduce exact equation-of-motion for Hubbard operator to quantum master equation (QME)-like expression. A dressing with effective Liouville space propagation similar to standard diagrammatic dressing approach is proposed. The scheme is compared to standard QME approach, and its applicability to transport calculations is discussed within numerical examples.
The effects of long-range interactions in quantum transport are still largely unexplored, mainly due to the difficulty of devising efficient embedding schemes. In this work we present a substantial progress in the interacting resonant level model by reducing the problem to the solution of Kadanoff-Baym-like equations with a correlated embedding self-energy. The method allows us to deal with short- and long-range interactions and is applicable from the transient to the steady-state regime. Furthermore, memory effects are consistently incorporated and the results are not plagued by negative dens…
We extend the recently developed real-time Diagrammatic Monte Carlo method, in its hybridization expansion formulation, to the full Kadanoff-Baym-Keldysh contour. This allows us to study real-time dynamics in correlated impurity models starting from an arbitrary, even interacting, initial density matrix. As a proof of concept we apply the algorithm to study the non equilibrium dynamics after a local quantum quench in the Anderson Impurity Model. Being a completely general approach to real-time dynamics in quantum impurity models it can be used as a solver for Non Equilibrium Dynamical Mean Fie…
Utilizing the Baym-Kadanoff formalism with the polarization function calculated in the random phase approximation, the dynamics of the $ν=0$ quantum Hall state in bilayer graphene is analyzed. Two phases with nonzero energy gap, the ferromagnetic and layer asymmetric ones, are found. The phase diagram in the plane $(\tildeΔ_0,B)$, where $\tildeΔ_0$ is a top-bottom gates voltage imbalance, is described. It is shown that the energy gap scales linearly, $ΔE\sim 14 B[T]K, with magnetic field.
Utilizing the Baym-Kadanoff formalism with the polarization function calculated in the random phase approximation, the dynamics of the $ν=0$ quantum Hall state in bilayer graphene is analyzed. Two phases with nonzero energy gap, the ferromagnetic and layer asymmetric ones, are found. The phase diagram in the plane $(\tildeΔ_0,B)$, where $\tildeΔ_0$ is a top-bottom gates voltage imbalance, is described. It is shown that the energy gaps in these phases scale linearly, $ΔE\sim 10 B[T]K, with magnetic field. The comparison of these results with recent experiments in bilayer graphene is presented.
The non-equilibrium time evolution of an Anderson quantum dot is investigated. The quantum dot is coupled between two leads forming a chemical-potential gradient. We use Kadanoff-Baym dynamic equations within a non-perturbative resummation of the s-channel bubble chains. The effect of the resummation leads to the introduction of a frequency-dependent 4-point vertex. The tunneling to the leads is taken into account exactly. The method allows the determination of the transient as well as stationary transport through the quantum dot, and results are compared with different schemes discussed in th…
The time evolution of optically excited carriers in semiconductor quantum wells and quantum dots is analyzed for their interaction with LO-phonons. Both the full two-time Green's function formalism and the one-time approximation provided by the generalized Kadanoff-Baym ansatz are considered, in order to compare their description of relaxation processes. It is shown that the two-time quantum kinetics leads to thermalization in all the examined cases, which is not the case for the one-time approach in the intermediate-coupling regime, even though it provides convergence to a steady state. The t…
We augment the time-linear formulation of the Kadanoff-Baym equations for systems of interacting electrons and quantized phonons or photons with the $G\widetilde{W}$ approximation, the Coulomb interaction $\widetilde{W}$ being dynamically screened by both electron-hole pairs {\em and} bosonic particles. We also show how to combine different approximations to include simultaneously multiple correlation effects in the dynamics. The final outcome is a versatile framework comprising $2^{12}$ distinct diagrammatic methods, each scaling linearly in time and preserving all fundamental conservation la…
