title: Thermodynamics of the polaron master equation at finite bias.
abstract: We study coherent transport through a double quantum dot. Its two electronic leads induce electronic matter and energy transport and a phonon reservoir contributes further energy exchanges. By treating the system-lead couplings perturbatively, whereas the coupling to vibrations is treated non-perturbatively in a polaron-transformed frame, we derive a thermodynamic consistent low-dimensional master equation. When the number of phonon modes is finite, a Markovian description is only possible when these couple symmetrically to both quantum dots. For a continuum of phonon modes however, also asymmetric couplings can be described with a Markovian master equation. We compute the electronic current and dephasing rate. The electronic current enables transport spectroscopy of the phonon frequency and displays signatures of Franck-Condon blockade. For infinite external bias but finite tunneling bandwidths, we find oscillations in the current as a function of the internal bias due to the electron-phonon coupling. Furthermore, we derive the full fluctuation theorem and show its identity to the entropy production in the system.
authors: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstr. 36, D-10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Thilo
authors: T
authors: Krause
authors: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstr. 36, D-10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Tobias
authors: T
authors: Brandes
authors: Complex Systems and Statistical Mechanics, University of Luxembourg, L-1511 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors: Massimiliano
authors: M
authors: Esposito
authors: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstr. 36, D-10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Gernot
authors: G
authors: Schaller