title: On the Mott formula for the thermopower of non-interacting electrons in quantum point contacts.
abstract: We calculate the linear response thermopower S of a quantum point contact using the Landauer formula and therefore assume non-interacting electrons. The purpose of the paper is to compare analytically and numerically the linear thermopower S of non-interacting electrons to the low-temperature approximation, [Formula: see text], and the so-called Mott expression, [Formula: see text], where G(μ,T) is the (temperature-dependent) conductance. This comparison is important, since the Mott formula is often used to detect deviations from single-particle behaviour in the thermopower of a point contact.
authors.affiliation: Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders Mathias
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Lunde
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Flensberg