Steady-state properties of a thermodynamically unbalanced Fermi gas

Abstract

The current-carrying steady-state that arises in the middle of a metallic wire connected to macroscopic leads is characterized regarding its response functions, correlations and entanglement entropy. The spectral function and the dynamical structure factor show clear non-equilibrium signatures accessible by state-of-the-art techniques. In contrast with the equilibrium case, the entanglement entropy is extensive with logarithmic corrections at zero-temperature that depend on the wire-leads coupling and, in a non-analytic way, on voltage. This shows that some robust universal quantities found in gapless equilibrium phases do not persist away from equilibrium.