The Landauer Formula: a Magic Mantra Revisited
arXiv:cond-mat/0304573
Abstract
We review the conceptual structure of the Landauer theory of electron transport in the light of quantum kinetics, the orthodox framework for describing conductance at all scales. In a straightforward analysis, we assess popular claims for a rational link between Landauer theory on the one hand, and orthodox microscopics on the other. The need to explicitly include inelastic (dissipative) carrier relaxation is key to any well-posed microscopic model of open-system mesoscopic transport.
TeX source; 13 pp; 1 fig