How to interpret the spectral density of the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green's function
Abstract
This paper is devoted to the study and interpretation of the spectral function of the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green's function. The spatial diagonal of the spectral function is often interpreted as a time-dependent local density of states. We show that this object can take negative values implying that a simple probability interpretation as a time-dependent density of states is not possible. The same issue also occurs for the Wigner function where it is solved by taking the uncertainty principle into account. We follow the same path and incorporate the time-energy uncertainty relation to define a convoluted spectral function that allows for a probability interpretation. The usefulness of this quantity as a interpretative tool is demonstrated by visualizing the charge dynamics in a quantum dot coupled to superconducting leads.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1405.5984,
title = {How to interpret the spectral density of the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green's function},
author = {K. J. Pototzky and E. K. U. Gross},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1405.5984},
year = {2014}
}