We study finite-temperature transport properties of the one-dimensional Hubbard model using the density matrix renormalization group. Our aim is two-fold: First, we compute both the charge and the spin current correlation function of the integrable m
odel at half filling. The former decays rapidly, implying that the corresponding Drude weight is either zero or very small. Second, we calculate the optical charge conductivity sigma(omega) in presence of small integrability-breaking next-nearest neighbor interactions (the extended Hubbard model). The DC conductivity is finite and diverges as the temperature is decreased below the gap. Our results thus suggest that the half-filled, gapped Hubbard model is a normal charge conductor at finite temperatures. As a testbed for our numerics, we compute sigma(omega) for the integrable XXZ spin chain in its gapped phase.
We introduce a real time version of the functional renormalization group which allows to study correlation effects on nonequilibrium transport through quantum dots. Our method is equally capable to address (i) the relaxation out of a nonequilibrium i
nitial state into a (potentially) steady state driven by a bias voltage and (ii) the dynamics governed by an explicitly time-dependent Hamiltonian. All time regimes from transient to asymptotic can be tackled; the only approximation is the consistent truncation of the flow equations at a given order. As an application we investigate the relaxation dynamics of the interacting resonant level model which describes a fermionic quantum dot dominated by charge fluctuations. Moreover, we study decoherence and relaxation phenomena within the ohmic spin-boson model by mapping the latter to the interacting resonant level model.
