Thermoelectricity of interacting particles: a numerical approach

Area of Science:

• Computational Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Statistical Mechanics

Background:

• Accurate computation of thermopower in interacting systems is crucial for understanding thermoelectric properties.
• Existing methods may face challenges with complex interparticle interactions and large system sizes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate a novel computational method for calculating thermopower in interacting systems.
• To investigate the behavior of the thermoelectric figure of merit in different interacting systems.

Main Methods:

• Development of a Monte Carlo simulation approach.
• Application to a diatomic chain of elastically colliding particles.
• Extension to a one-dimensional gas with screened Coulomb interactions.

Main Results:

• The proposed method successfully computes thermopower for interacting systems.
• Numerical simulations with over 10^4 particles confirm theoretical predictions for momentum-conserving systems.
• The thermoelectric figure of merit demonstrates a linear increase with system size.

Conclusions:

• The Monte Carlo method provides a robust framework for studying thermopower in complex interacting systems.
• System size is a critical factor influencing thermoelectric performance, with linear scaling observed.
• This work offers insights into optimizing materials for thermoelectric applications.