CHARGE-DISTRIBUTION IN QUANTUM SHOT-NOISE

The charge which passes through a low-temperature quantum conductor ov er a fixed time has a binomial distribution. Fluctuations in the elect ron flux from the source and fluctuations due to scattering of electro ns in the conductor are taken into account separately in the derivatio n. A generalization is made to the case of an arbitrary number of cond uction channels and an arbitrary temperature. A generalized binomial ( Bernoulli) distribution arises for the multichannel situation at absol ute zero. In this distribution, the probabilities of the various outco mes are expressed in terms of multiparticle scattering probabilities.