  We calculate the conductance through a single quantum dot coupled to metallic
leads, modeled by the spin 1/2 Anderson model. We adopt the finite-U extension
of the noncrossing approximation method. Our results are in good agreement with
exact numerical renormalization group results both in the high temperature and
in the Kondo (low temperature) regime. Thanks to this approach, we were able to
fit fairly well recently reported measurements by S. De Franceschi et al. in a
quantum dot device. We show that, contrarily to what previously suggested, the
conductance of this particular device can be understood within the spin-1/2
Anderson model, in which the effects of the multilevel structure of the dot are
neglected.
