Abstract
The zero-temperature linear response conductance through an interacting mesoscopic region attached to noninteracting leads is investigated. We present a set of formulas expressing the conductance in terms of persistent currents in an auxiliary system, namely a ring threaded by a magnetic flux and containing the correlated electron region. We first derive the formulas for the noninteracting case and then give arguments why the formalism is also correct in the interacting case if the ground state of a system exhibits Fermi liquid properties. We prove that in such systems, the ground-state energy is a universal function of the magnetic flux, where the conductance is the only parameter. The method is tested by comparing its predictions with exact results and results of other methods for problems such as the transport through single and double quantum dots containing interacting electrons. The comparisons show an excellent quantitative agreement.
- Received 30 January 2003
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.68.035342
©2003 American Physical Society