It has been shown that in the linear-response regime, dephasing by point scatterers can be simulated by attaching point voltage probes with the appropriate coupling, provided the transport channels at different energies remain in equilibrium with each other. In this paper we derive a generalized linear-reponse equation that does not require this assumption. This equation too can be visualized in terms of floating point probes, but with individual probes connected to each energy at every point. We also show that the transmission in multiterminal conductors obeys reciprocity.

• Received 22 May 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.44.6538