Quantum kinetic theory of semiclassical Boltzmann equation with side jump and skew scattering

Abstract: The semiclassical Boltzmann equation is widely used to study transport effects. It is usually introduced in an intuitive fashion, which could cause confusion, e.g., over the collision integral with skew scattering. Actually, the Boltzmann equation is closely linked to the quantum density matrix, although term-by-term correspondence between the two is yet to be established. Here we start from the quantum Liouville equation in the interactive picture and show that the diagonal components of the equation yield the Boltzmann equation in homogeneous systems in an applied uniform electric field in the semiclassical limit, while the off-diagonal components give the anomalous velocity induced by Berry curvature and the side-jump velocity. The skew-scattering contribution is obtained when we include corrections beyond the first-Born approximation. The result derived from the denstiy matrix agrees with the semiclassical one from wave-packet analysis, showing that the semiclassical Boltzmann equation is more than an equation built from intuition, and it can be derived with the density matrix. Our work further clarifies the origin of the equation and eliminates the puzzles surrounding it.