Time-dependent approach to transport and scattering in atomic and mesoscopic physics

Abstract

Transport and scattering phenomena in open quantum-systems with a continuous energy spectrum are conveniently solved using the time-dependent Schrodinger equation. In the time-dependent picture, the evolution of an initially localized wave-packet reveals the eigenstates and eigenvalues of the system under consideration. We discuss applications of the wave-packet method in atomic, molecular, and mesoscopic systems and point out specific advantages of the time-dependent approach. In connection with the familiar initial value formulation of classical mechanics, an intuitive interpretation of transport emerges. For interacting many-particle systems, we discuss the efficient calculation of the self-consistent classical transport in the presence of a magnetic field.