Physical scales in the Wigner-Boltzmann equation (Q1947379)

A Wigner-Boltzmann (WB) equation is derived, which describes the interaction of electrons with their environment in a solid body consisting of lattice vibrations given by well-defined Bose-equilibrium averages. The WB equation is used to deal with the gap between quantum-coherent and scattering-dominated evolution modes. In the paper, first a dimensionless Schrödinger equation and the basic notions of quantum and classical evolution of mean values of physical observables, needed to estimate their differences with the Egorov theorem, are introduced. The Wigner equation (WE) is given as the dynamic equation of the Fourier transform of the density matrix. As the quantum-physical expressions obtained describe in the limit of a vanishing Planck constant \(\hbar\) a classical system, a semiclassical parameter \(\varepsilon\) is introduced in the WE, which effectively replaces \(\hbar\) in the Schrödinger equation. In accordance to Egorov's theorem, the difference between classical and quantum-physical descriptions disappears at \(\varepsilon^2\rightarrow0\). Further, in the paper, the dynamics of a single electron in an electric potential is generalized taking the interaction with solid state lattice vibrations, i.e., phonons, into account. Although many simplifying assumptions are introduced, the obtained results bear the quantum character of the phonon interaction. Finally, a scaled WB-equation is introduced. The physical scales taken into account are those of the device potential, the phonon energy, and the electron-phonon coupling. These parameters occur in the components of the kernel of the derived WB-equation. A notion called scaling theorem is derived, linking the scaling parameters to the coupling with the oscillators of the system. In the present work, the authors generalize Egorov's theorem for a mixed-mode WB evolution. At the end of the article, it is shown that an increase of the electron-phonon coupling causes a super-linear decrease of the quantum contribution due to a decrease of both, the proportion of the coherent component and the semi-classical parameter \(\varepsilon\). The analysis shows that there are two main reasons for a classical behaviour, the strength of the scattering processes and the scattering-induced reduction of the coherence length. Applying the scaling theorem it is found that different physical systems exist, which have a mathematically equivalent evolution of entangled electron states. Typical semiconductor transport scales are discussed in the appendix to provide a range of values of \(\varepsilon\).