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In this expository article, we present a systematic formal derivation of the Kubo formula for the linear-response current due to a time-harmonic electric field applied to non-interacting, spinless charged particles in a finite volume in the quantum setting. We model dissipation in a transparent way by assuming a sequence of scattering events occurring at random-time intervals modeled by a Poisson distribution. By taking the large-volume limit, we derive special cases of the formula for free electrons, continuum and tight-binding periodic systems, and the nearest-neighbor tight-binding model of graphene. We present the analogous formalism with dissipation to derive the Drude conductivity of classical free particles. 

We describe the low‐temperature optical conductivity as a function of frequency for a quantum‐mechanical system of electrons that hop along a polymer chain. To this end, we invoke the Su–Schrieffer–Heegertight‐bindingHamiltonian for noninteracting spinless electrons on a one‐dimensional (1D) lattice. Our goal is to show via asymptotics how the interband conductivity of this system behaves as the smallest energy bandgap tends to close. Our analytical approach includes: (i) the Kubo‐type formulation for the optical conductivity with a nonzero damping due to microscopic collisions, (ii) reduction of this formulation to a 1D momentum integral over the Brillouin zone, and (iii) evaluation of this integral in terms of elementary functions via the three‐dimensional Mellin transform with respect to key physical parameters and subsequent inversion in a region of the respective complex space. Our approach reveals an intimate connection of the behavior of the conductivity to particular singularities of its Mellin transform. The analytical results are found in good agreement with direct numerical computations.