Nonequilibrium conductance of a nanodevice for small bias voltage

Abstract

Using nonequilibrium renormalized perturbation theory, we calculate the retarded and lesser self-energies, the spectral density ρ(ω) near the Fermi energy, and the conductance G through a quantum dot as a function of a small bias voltage V, in the general case of electron–hole asymmetry and intermediate valence. The linear terms in ω and V are given exactly in terms of thermodynamic quantities. When the energies necessary to add the first electron (Ed) and the second one (Ed + U) to the quantum dot are not symmetrically placed around the Fermi level, G has a term linear in V if, in addition, either the voltage drop or the coupling to the leads is not symmetric. The effects of temperature are discussed. The results simplify for a symmetric voltage drop, a situation usual in experiment.