Power spectrum of electronic heat current fluctuations

Abstract

We analyze the fluctuations of an electronic thermal current across an idealized molecular junction. The focus here will be on the spectral features of the resulting heat fluctuations. By use of the Green function method we derive an explicit expression for the frequency-dependent power spectral density of the emerging energy fluctuations. The complex expression simplifies considerably in the limit of zero frequency, yielding the noise intensity of the heat current. The spectral density for the electronic heat fluctuations still depends on the frequency in the zero-temperature limit, assuming different asymptotic behaviors in the low- and high-frequency regions. We further address subtleties and open problems from an experimental view point for measurements of frequency-dependent power spectral densities. Sketch of a molecular junction setup used in the text. The average heat flow is generated by electrons moving from a hot electrode TL across the molecular junction towards a neighboring cold electrode TR. The inter-electrode electronic level ε{lunate}0 can be tuned continuously. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.