Memory effects in non-interacting mesoscopic transport (Q466930)

Memory effects in quantum transport are common in systems where the carriers have self-interactions. In the non-interacting mesoscopic quantum transport charge/energy current observables are known not to depend on the initial state of the sample and/or the switching (of the thermal bias) procedure. The present paper stems from previous publications on non-equilibrium quantum transport [\textit{H. D. Cornean} et al., Ann. Henri Poincaré 13, No. 4, 827--856 (2012; Zbl 1253.82038); J. Phys. A, Math. Theor. 43, No. 47, Article ID 474011, 15 p. (2010; Zbl 1213.82055)]. A single quantum dot is considered, coupled to two semi-infnite one-dimensional leads at thermal equilibrium. An adiabatic switching of the bias between the leads is executed, such that only one discrete eigenvalue is allowed to exist at the beginning and at the end of the switching procedure. It is shown that there exist observables whose mean values depend on the history of the bias switching procedure. It is also found that the contribution to the final steady-state that comes from the continuous spectrum is memory-less.