PHYS4051 Homework 3

Due on October 11 (Wednesday)

September 29, 2017

1.Landau levels of massive fermions in Schrodinger equation and

Dirac massless fermions in Dirac equation Assume there are some two
dimensional electron gas. When a magnetic field is applied in the out of plane
direction, the energy of electrons will be discretized as so called Landau levels.
Here we solve Landau levels for electron gas with different energy momentum
dispersion relationships.
(a) We first consider the usual free electron gas. The the Schrodinger equa-
tion that describes the movement of free electron under the magnetic field is
1 e ~e
H = ( (p + A)2 0 + B) = E (1)
2m c 2mc
Where B = (B0 , 0, 0), e is the electron charge, m is the mass of electron.
Here we purposely choose the out of plane direction as x direction and we can
choose the vector potential A = (0, 0, B0 y) (Emphasis again that the choice
of vector potential is not unique, but different choices can be related by gauge
transformation). Please solve the energy levels E.(Hint: Because [x , H] =
0, you can find a unitary operator U which satisfies U x U = z to block
diagonalized H, then following the same steps in (d.4) of Homework 2 to solve
E).
(b) Interestingly, the electrons in Graphene is described by the massless
Dirac equation
 
0 vF (px ipy )
= E0 (px , py ) (2)
vF (px + ipy ) 0

Here we define the out of plane is in z direction, px , py is momentum opera-

tor, vF is Fermi velocity (also only one Dirac cone is considered and the two
component spinor is in AB sublattice space, which are things you dont need
to worry about here). By applying a magnetic field B = (0, 0, B0 ), continumm
spectrum E0 (px , py ) will be discretized as the Landau levels E, which can be
easily observed in experiments. So please calculate the Landau levels E and the
corresponding wavefunctions. You can choose Landau gauge A = (0, B0 x, 0) for
this question.
2.Non degenerate perturbation theory-perturbative Harmonic os-
cillator In this problem, we consider a particle with charge q stays in one
dimensional harmonic potential well. A weak electric field  is applied. The
Hamiltonian describing this system is

p2 1
H = H0 qx = + m 2 x2 qx (3)
2m 2

1
where p is momentum operator.
(0)
(1) Use the perturbation theory to calculate how the energy level En is
changed up to second order, where En is the nth energy without the electric
field. (Hint, you may use the ladder operator method to solve this problem
r
m i
a= (x + p) (4)
2~ m
r
m i
a = (x p) (5)
2~ m

)
(2) Solve the energy En level exactly, where H |ni = En |ni. Check whether
the results you obtain here is consistent with results in (1) up to second order.
(3) Calculate hn|x|ni exactly or by perturbation theory. Explain the effect
of electric field on this term by comparing with hn0 |x|n0 i, where H0 |n0 i =
(0)
En |n0 i.
3.Non degenerate perturbation theory-Spin 1 particle in magnetic
field Consider a spin 1 particle with charge q, mass m, g-factor g, in magnetic
field B = (0, 0, Bz ).
(1) Solve the energy levels of this system.
(2) Now we also apply a small in plane magnetic field Bx in x direction.
Assume Bx is much smaller than Bz . Use the perturbation theory to study how
these energy levels in (1) is shifted up to second order.
(3) Solve the energy levels in (2) case exactly. Check the results in (2) is
consistent with what you obtain here up to second order.