The transfer of energy between electrons and ions in solids

Abstract

In this review we consider those processes in condensed matter that involve the irreversible flow of energy between electrons and nuclei that follows from a system being taken out of equilibrium. We survey some of the more important experimental phenomena associated with these processes, followed by a number of theoretical techniques for studying them. The techniques considered are those that can be applied to systems containing many non-equivalent atoms. They include both perturbative approaches (Fermi's Golden Rule, and non-equilibrium Green's functions) and molecular dynamics based (the Ehrenfest approximation, surface hopping, semi-classical gaussian wavefunction methods and correlated electron-ion dynamics). These methods are described and characterised, with indications of their relative merits.

LaTeX with IoP style files, 43 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Inelastic scattering and local heating in atomic gold wires
• Modeling inelastic phonon scattering in atomic- and molecular-wire junctions
• Hole spin relaxation in semiconductor quantum dots
• Electronic thermal conductivity of disordered metals
• Vibrational inelastic scattering effects in molecular electronics

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Quantum thermal transport in nanostructures
• Inelastic transport theory from first-principles: methodology and applications for nanoscale devices
• Current-induced atomic dynamics, instabilities, and Raman signals: Quasi-classical Langevin equation approach
• Coupled electron and phonon transport in one-dimensional atomic junctions
• Electron transfer across a thermal gradient
• Atomically wired molecular junctions: Connecting a single organic molecule by chains of metal atoms
• Effects of electron-phonon interaction on thermal and electrical transport through molecular nano-conductors
• Ehrenfest dynamics is purity non-preserving: a necessary ingredient for decoherence
• Robust non-adiabatic molecular dynamics for metals and insulators
• Real-time non-adiabatic dynamics in the one-dimensional Holstein model: Trajectory-based vs exact methods
• Thermally Driven Polaron Transport in Conjugated Polymers
• Non-equilibrium statistical mechanics of classical nuclei interacting with the quantum electron gas
• Building bridges: matching density functional theory with experiment