  We present comparative measurements of the charge occupation and conductance
of a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dot. The dot charge is measured with a capacitively
coupled quantum point contact sensor. In the single-level Coulomb blockade
regime near equilibrium, charge and conductance signals are found to be
proportional to each other. We conclude that in this regime, the two signals
give equivalent information about the quantum dot system. Out of equilibrium,
we study the inelastic-cotunneling regime. We compare the measured differential
dot charge with an estimate assuming a dwell time of transmitted carriers on
the dot given by h/E, where E is the blockade energy of first-order tunneling.
The measured signal is of a similar magnitude as the estimate, compatible with
a picture of cotunneling as transmission through a virtual intermediate state
with a short lifetime.
