NONEQUILIBRIUM STATISTICAL OPERATOR APPROACH TO NONLINEAR TRANSPORT IN MESOSCOPIC SYSTEMS

The nonequilibrium statistical operator (NSO) approach is applied to i nvestigating the nonlinear transport in mesoscopic systems. The constr aints in currents and in voltage differences are studied on an equal f ooting in the NSO, from which self-consistent formulation for nonlinea r voltage-current relation is obtained. It is shown that in the strong -constriction limit, where most of the channels in the leads are close d, the present formula reproduces the generalized Landauer-Buttiker fo rmula. If the electronic drift effect in the leads needs to be taken i nto account, the current-voltage curves will be determined by self-con sistent equations. In the linear regime, a new multichannel formula fo r mesoscopic transport is predicted. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.