Spectral and transmission properties of multiple correlated quantum dots made simple

Steady-state density functional theory, called i-DFT, is employed to compute spectral and transmission properties of general interacting nanoscale regions coupled to electronic reservoirs. Exchange-correlation functionals are constructed for different interactions and coupling geometries. The potential of the method is illustrated by applications to various multiple quantum dots from the Coulomb blockade to the Kondo regime, capturing phenomena such as quantum phase transitions. The results are in excellent agreement with many-body approaches at a fraction of the computational cost.