Propagation Scheme for Non-Equilibrium Dynamics of Electron Transport in Nanoscale Devices

A closed set of coupled equations of motion for the description of time-dependent electron transport is derived. It provides the time evolution of energy-resolved quantities constructed from non-equilibrium Green functions. By means of an auxiliary-mode expansion a viable propagation scheme for finite temperatures is obtained, which allows to study arbitrary time dependences and structured reservoirs. Two illustrative examples are presented.