arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G. Nenciu.
This paper is the second in a series revisiting the (effect of) Faraday rotation. We formulate and prove the thermodynamic limit for the transverse electric conductivity of Bloch electrons, as well as for the Verdet constant. The main mathematical tool is a regularized magnetic and geometric perturbation theory combined with elliptic regularity and Agmon-Combes-Thomas uniform exponential decay estimates.
It is proved that for general, not necessarily periodic quasi one dimensional systems, the band position operator corresponding to an isolated part of the energy spectrum has discrete spectrum and its eigenfunctions have the same spatial localization as the corresponding spectral projection. As a consequence, an eigenbasis of the band position operator provides a basis of optimally localized (generalized) Wannier functions for quasi one dimensional systems, thus proving the "strong conjecture" of Marzari and Vanderbilt. If the system has some translation symmetries (e.g. usual translations, screw transformations), they are "inherited" by the Wannier basis.
A general argument leading from the formula for currents through an open noninteracting mesoscopic system given by the theory of non-equilibrium steady states (NESS) to the Landauer-Buettiker formula is pointed out. Time reversal symmetry is not assumed. As a consequence it follows that, as far as the system has a nontrivial scattering theory and the reservoirs have different temperatures and/or chemical potentials, the entropy production is strictly positive.
We point out a general argument leading from the formula for currents through an open mesoscopic system given by the theory of non-equilibrium steady states (NESS) to the Landauer-Büttiker formula.
This paper is the first in a series revisiting the Faraday effect, or more generally, the theory of electronic quantum transport/optical response in bulk media in the presence of a constant magnetic field. The independent electron approximation is assumed. At zero temperature and zero frequency, if the Fermi energy lies in a spectral gap, we rigorously prove the Widom-Streda formula. For free electrons, the transverse conductivity can be explicitly computed and coincides with the classical result. In the general case, using magnetic perturbation theory, the conductivity tensor is expanded in powers of the strength of the magnetic field $B$. Then the linear term in $B$ of this expansion is written down in terms of the zero magnetic field Green function and the zero field current operator. In the periodic case, the linear term in $B$ of the conductivity tensor is expressed in terms of zero magnetic field Bloch functions and energies. No derivatives with respect to the quasi-momentum appear and thereby all ambiguities are removed, in contrast to earlier work.
We study the dynamics of a 1D Bloch electron subjected to a constant electric field. The periodic potential is supposed to be less singular than the $δ$-like potential (Dirac comb). We give a rigorous proof of Ao's result \cite{Ao} that for a large class of initial conditions (high momentum regime) there is no localization in momentum space. The proof is based on the mathematical substantiation of the two simplifying assumptions made in physical literature: the transitions between far away bands can be neglected and the transitions at the quasi-crossing can be described by Landau-Zener like formulae. Using the connection between the above model and the driven quantum ring (DQR) shown by Avron and Nemirovski \cite{AvN}, our results imply the increase of energy for weakly singular such DQR and appropiate initial conditions.
We study the quantum dynamics generated by $H^{SW}=-{d^2\over dx^2}+V-x$ with $V$ a real periodic function of weak regularity. We prove that the continuous spectrum of $H^{SW}$ is never empty, and furthermore that for $V$ small enough there are no bound states.