SPONTANEOUSLY INDUCED IRREVERSIBLE ENERGY-TRANSPORT IN CLOSED ELECTRON-PHONON SYSTEMS

Energy relaxation dynamics associated with the electron scattering pro cess is investigated with a simple fully quantum model of an electron- phonon system. It is numerically demonstrated that contrary to traditi onal theories infinite numbers of phonon modes are not necessary and j ust a few phonon modes are sufficient for an irreversible energy trans fer from the scattered electron to the phonon modes to be induced if t he scattering potential is spatially irregular. Moreover, the phonon m ode reaches promptly a thermalized state characterized by a well-defin ed temperature. The possibility that such a process might be an origin of resistivity in a closed quantum system is discussed.