Initial Correlation Effects in Time-Dependent Transport with One-Dimensional Interacting Leads

We study theoretically the memory effects due to different kinds of initial conditions in the transport properties of one-dimensional systems described by the Tomonaga-Luttinger model. We show that in presence of electron–electron interactions the sudden switching of a weak link between two initially uncontacted reservoirs induces a qualitative change in the transient current with respect to the contacted case. In particular the different switching process produces a change in the powerlaw temporal relaxation of the current towards the steady-state as well as a significant suppression of the transient oscillations. Even more dramatic is the response to a sudden interaction quench, which remarkably leads to a current–voltage characteristic differing from the one displayed if the system was initially interacting.