Open Fermi-Hubbard model: Landauer's versus master equation approaches

We introduce a simple model for the quantum transport of Fermi particles between two contacts connected by a lead. It generalizes the Landauer formalism by explicitly taking into account the relaxation processes in the contacts. We calculate the contact resistance and nonequilibrium quasimomentum distribution of the carriers in the lead and show that they strongly depend on the rate of relaxation processes.