Quantum State of the Fermionic Carriers in a Transport Channel Connecting Particle Reservoirs

Abstract

We analyze the quantum state of fermionic carriers in a transport channel attached to a particle reservoir. The analysis is done from first principles by considering microscopic models of the reservoir and transport channel. In the case of infinite effective temperature of the reservoir we demonstrate a full agreement between the results of straightforward numerical simulations of the system dynamics and the solution of the master equation on the single-particle density matrix of the carriers in the channel. This allows us to predict the quantum state of carriers in the case where the transport channel connects two reservoirs with different chemical potentials.