Symmetric and asymmetric charge transport in interacting asymmetric quantum impurities

Abstract

We study steady-state charge transfer across an interacting resonance-level model connected asymmetrically to two leads. For a linear energy dispersion relation of the leads, we calculate current-voltage characteristics of the model exactly employing the scattering Bethe-Ansatz of Mehta-Andrei and find symmetric transport showing the absence of diode effect. Next we study a lattice version of this model with a nonlinear dispersion for the leads using the Lippmann-Schwinger scattering theory. We find that the inclusion of nonlinearity in the leads' dispersion causes rectification for asymmetric junctions but does not rectify for asymmetric interactions and perfect junctions. The model in the latter case can be mapped into a model of a single noninteracting electron in higher dimensions.