Modeling molecular conduction in DNA wires: Charge transfer theories and dissipative quantum transport

摘要

Measurements of electron transfer rates as well as of charge transportcharacteristics in DNA produced a number of seemingly contradictory results,ranging from insulating behaviour to the suggestion that DNA is an efficientmedium for charge transport. Among other factors, environmental effects appearto play a crucial role in determining the effectivity of charge propagationalong the double helix. This chapter gives an overview over charge transfertheories and their implication for addressing the interaction of a molecularconductor with a dissipative environment. Further, we focus on possibleapplications of these approaches for charge transport through DNA-basedmolecular wires.