Electron–electron interaction effects in quantum point contacts

We consider electron–electron interaction effects in quantum point contacts on the first quantization plateau, taking into account all scattering processes. We compute the low-temperature linear and nonlinear conductance, shot noise and thermopower, by perturbation theory and a self-consistent nonperturbative method. On the conductance plateau, the low-temperature corrections are solely due to momentum-nonconserving processes that change the relative number of leftand right-moving electrons. This leads to a suppression of the conductance for increasing temperature or voltage. The size of the suppression is estimated for a realistic saddle-point potential, and is largest in the beginning of the conductance plateau. For large magnetic field, interaction effects are strongly suppressed by the Pauli principle, and hence the first spinsplit conductance plateau has a much weaker interaction correction. For the nonperturbative calculations, we use a self-consistent nonequilibrium Green’s function approach, which suggests that the conductance saturates at elevated temperatures. These results are consistent with many experimental observations related to the so-called 0.7 anomaly. 5 Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed. New Journal of Physics 11 (2009) 023031 1367-2630/09/023031+27$30.00 © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft