Electron-electron interaction effects in quantum point contacts

Anders Mathias Lunde, Alessandro De Martino, Reinhold Egger, Karsten Flensberg

Published 2007-07-13Version 1

We consider interaction effects in quantum point contacts on the first quantization plateau, taking into account all non momentum-conserving processes. We compute low-temperature linear and non-linear conductance, shot noise, and thermopower by perturbation theory, and show that they are consistent with experimental observations on the so-called "0.7 anomaly". The full temperature-dependent conductance is obtained from self-consistent second-order perturbation theory and approaches ~ e^2/h at higher temperatures, but still smaller than the Fermi temperature.