title: Junctions of three quantum wires and the dissipative Hofstadter model.
abstract: We study a junction of three quantum wires enclosing a magnetic flux. This is the simplest problem of a quantum junction between Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids in which Fermi statistics enter in a nontrivial way. We present a direct connection between this problem and the dissipative Hofstadter problem, or quantum Brownian motion in two dimensions in a periodic potential and an external magnetic field, which in turn is connected to open string theory in a background electromagnetic field. We find nontrivial fixed points corresponding to a chiral conductance tensor leading to an asymmetric flow of the current.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chamon
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oshikawa
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Affleck