Independent electrons model for open quantum systems: Landauer-Buettiker formula and strict positivity of the entropy production

Abstract

A general argument leading from the formula for currents through an open noninteracting mesoscopic system given by the theory of non-equilibrium steady states (NESS) to the Landauer-Buettiker formula is pointed out. Time reversal symmetry is not assumed. As a consequence it follows that, as far as the system has a nontrivial scattering theory and the reservoirs have different temperatures and/or chemical potentials, the entropy production is strictly positive.