Time-dependent heat flow in interacting quantum conductors

Abstract

We derive the frequency-resolved heat current expression in the linear-response regime for a setup composed of a reservoir, an interacting central site, and a tunneling barrier under the action of a time-dependent electrical signal. We exploit the frequency parity properties of response functions to obtain the heat current expression for interacting quantum conductors. Importantly, the corresponding heat formula, valid for arbitrary ac frequencies, can describe photon-assisted heat transport. In particular, we analyze the heat transfer for an interacting multilevel conductor (a carbon nanotube quantum dot) coupled to a single reservoir. We show that the electrothermal admittance can reverse its sign by properly tuning the ac frequency.