Nonequilibrium Transport in Open Quantum Systems

We propose a generalization of the nonequilibrium Green's functions to treatment of open systems, to account for the influence of the system-environment coupling on transport in nonequilibrium mesoscopic systems. Our approach is based on the partial-trace-free time-convolutionless equation of motion for the open system's reduced density matrix. We generalize the two-time correlation functions, and analyze the behavior of systems in the transient regime, as well as in a far-from-equilibrium steady state.