Electron-phonon scattering in quantum point contacts

Abstract

We study the negative correction to the quantized value $2e^2/h$ of the conductance of a quantum point contact due to the backscattering of electrons by acoustic phonons. The correction shows activated temperature dependence and also gives rise to a zero-bias anomaly in conductance. Our results are in qualitative agreement with recent experiments studying the 0.7 feature in the conductance of quantum point contacts.

4 pages, no figures