Abstract
Presently, the main methods for describing a nonequilibrium charge-transporting steady state are based on time-evolving it from the initial zero-current situation. An alternative class of theories would give the statistical nonequilibrium density operator from principles of statistical mechanics, in a spirit close to Gibbs ensembles for equilibrium systems, leading to a variational principle for the nonequilibrium steady state. We discuss the existing attempts to achieve this using the maximum entropy principle based on constraining the average current. We show that the current-constrained theories result in a zero-induced drop in electrostatic potential, so that such ensembles cannot correspond to the time-evolved density matrix, unless left- and right-going scattering states are mutually incoherent.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 165425 |
Pages (from-to) | - |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Physical Review B |
Volume | 72 |
Issue number | 16 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2005 |
Bibliographical note
© 2005 American Physical Society. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Physical Review B and uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self archiving policy.Keywords
- MESOSCOPIC TRANSPORT
- SYSTEMS
- CONDUCTORS