Expansions of a plane wave in Landau states are derived corresponding to an adiabatic and to a sudden switching on of the magnetic field. Two earlier solutions given by Faisal (1982) and by Ohsaki (1983) are found to be valid alternative expansions in the adiabatic case, which differ only in the choice of normalisations of the basis states used. A result identical to Ohsaki's is reobtained, since the Landau states are confined by conservation of energy to a large but finite area L x L y approximately 1/ gamma , perpendicular to the field. This energy conservation requires the corresponding sum over the degenerate Landau states to be restricted within a finite range. The upper and lower limits of this range are derived. The completeness relation of Faisal's expansion shows that it is also effectively and automatically confined to the same range of states. In the limit gamma to 0 both sets of expansion coefficients become identical and the results go over to the desired plane-wave state. In the sudden case, when the field switches instantaneously from zero to a finite value, the expansion no longer consists of Landau states of a fixed energy, and the result is new. The two results correspond to different limiting cases of any experimental situation, and the sudden expansion is shown to be invalid at the highest laboratory field ( approximately 20 kG) in current use. The experimental situations corresponding to the two different expansions are discussed.
We consider a quantum spinless nonrelativistic charged particle moving in the xy plane under the action of a time-dependent magnetic field, described by means of the linear vector potential A=B(t)-y(1+α),x(1-α)/2, with two fixed values of the gauge parameter α: α=0 (the circular gauge) and α=1 (the Landau gauge). While the magnetic field is the same in all the cases, the systems with different values of the gauge parameter are not equivalent for nonstationary magnetic fields due to different structures of induced electric fields, whose lines of force are circles for α=0 and straight lines for α=1. We derive general formulas for the time-dependent mean values of the energy and magnetic moment, as well as for their variances, for an arbitrary function B(t). They are expressed in terms of solutions to the classical equation of motion ε¨+ωα2(t)ε=0, with ω1=2ω0. Explicit results are found in the cases of the sudden jump of magnetic field, the parametric resonance, the adiabatic evolution, and for several specific functions B(t), when solutions can be expressed in terms of elementary or hypergeometric functions. These examples show that the evolution of the mentioned mean values can be rather different for the two gauges, if the evolution is not adiabatic. It appears that the adiabatic approximation fails when the magnetic field goes to zero. Moreover, the sudden jump approximation can fail in this case as well. The case of a slowly varying field changing its sign seems especially interesting. In all the cases, fluctuations of the magnetic moment are very strong, frequently exceeding the square of the mean value.
We consider a quantum spinless nonrelativistic charged particle moving in the
xy plane under the action of a time-dependent magnetic field, described by means of the linear vector potential ${\bf A}=B(t)\PG{-y(1+\alpha),x(1-\alpha)}/2$, with two fixed values of the gauge parameter
α:
α=0 (the circular gauge) and
α=1 (the Landau gauge). Although the magnetic field is the same in all the cases, the systems with different values of the gauge parameter are not equivalent for nonstationary magnetic fields due to different structures of induced electric fields, whose lines of force are circles for
α=0 and straight lines for
α=1. We derive general formulas for the time-dependent mean values of the energy and magnetic moment, as well as for their variances, for an arbitrary function
B(t). They are expressed in terms of solutions to the classical equation of motion $\ddot\vep +\omega_{\alpha}^2(t) \vep=0$, with
ω1=2ω0. Explicit results are found in the cases of the sudden jump of magnetic field, the parametric resonance, the adiabatic evolution, and for several specific functions
B(t), when solutions can be expressed in terms of elementary or hypergeometric functions. These examples show that the evolution of the mentioned mean values can be rather different for the two gauges, if the evolution is not adiabatic. It appears that the adiabatic approximation fails when the magnetic field goes to zero. Moreover, the sudden jump approximation can fail in this case, as well. The case of slowly varying field changing its sign seems especially interesting. In all the cases, fluctuations of the magnetic moment are very strong, frequently exceeding the square of the mean value.
The problem of a single electron in a magnetic field is revisited from first principles. It is shown that the standard quantization, used by Landau, is inconsistent for this problem, whence Landau's wave functions spontaneously break the gauge symmetry of translations in the plane. Because of this Landau's (and Fock's) wave functions have a spurious second quantum number. The one-body wave function of the physical orbit, with only one quantum number, is derived, and expressed as a superposition of Landau's wave functions. Conversely, it is shown that Landau's wave functions are a limiting case of physical solutions of a different problem, where two quantum numbers naturally appear. When the translation gauge symmetry is respected, the degeneracy related to the choice of orbit center does not appear in the one-body problem.
The eigenvalue problem of the Hamiltonian of an electron confined to a plane and subjected to a perpendicular time-independent magnetic field which is the sum of a homogeneous field and an additional field contributed by a singular flux tube, i.e. of zero width, is investigated. Since both a direct approach based on distribution-valued operators and a limit process starting from a non-singular flux tube, i.e. of finite size, fail, an alternative method is applied leading to consistent results. An essential feature is quantum mechanical supersymmetry at g=2 which imposes, by proper representation, the correct choice of "boundary conditions". The corresponding representation of the Hilbert space in coordinate space differs from the usual space of square-integrable 2-spinors, entailing other unusual properties. The analysis is extended to g different from 2 such that supersymmetry is explicitly broken. Finally, for equal fluxes in the singular tube the Hilbert space has to be the same as for the singular Aharonov-Bohm system and this problem is analyzed accordingly.
This is a mathematical study of certain aspects of the interacting electron system in very high perpendicular magnetic field.\nWe analyse restrictions imposed upon the density correlation functions of this system and propose a set of sum rules which they must obey.\nWe study the possibility of building a bosonisation scheme for the projected density operators in the lowest Landau level. We suggest a second order bosonisation, along with an approximation scheme, which may be useful for carrying out calculations in the lowest Landau level.\nWe analyse the possible ground states of the system. We suggest a set of variational wavefunctions which can have lower energy than the Laughlin state for sufficiently soft interaction potentials.\nWe study the collective excitations of the system, paying particular attention to its symmetries. We suggest a set of variational excited states and discuss their applicability to finite as well as infinite systems.
A connection between quantum mechanical and classical adiabatic invariance is shown for the special case of a charged particle moving in a homogeneous, time-dependent magnetic field. The relationship consists of the fact that the transition probability between energy eigenstates corresponding to the magnnetic field at two different times is a function of a certain classical adiabatic invariant alone. From this relation follows the well-known result that during sufficiently slow changes of the magnetic field the particle will remain in one quantum state which passes continuously through the different instantaneous energies. The adiabatic invariance of this classical quantity is shown directly by solving the equations of niotion when the magnetic field changes linearly with time. (auth)