Embedding method for the scattering phase in strongly correlated quantum dots

The embedding method for the calculation of the conductance through interacting systems connected to single channel leads is generalized to obtain the full complex transmission amplitude that completely characterizes the effective scattering matrix of the system at the Fermi energy. We calculate the transmission amplitude as a function of the gate potential for simple diamond-shaped lattice models of quantum dots with nearest neighbor interactions. In our simple models we do not generally observe an interaction dependent change in the number of zeroes or phase lapses that depend only on the symmetry properties of the underlying lattice. Strong correlations separate and reduce the widths of the resonant peaks while preserving the qualitative properties of the scattering phase.