For , the angular momentum operator gives
The probability density is proportional to
whose maximum occurs at
In a large disk of area , the states that fit inside satisfy . Thus the degeneracy of each Landau level is asymptotically
where is the magnetic flux. There is one state per magnetic flux quantum , up to boundary corrections.
Take and use the Landau gauge . With zero -momentum, the Hamiltonian becomes
For a state , this is a quantum harmonic oscillator in , centred at
with cyclotron frequency
The Landau levels are therefore
Periodicity in quantizes . Requiring the corresponding oscillator centre to lie in an interval of length leaves
allowed centres for each . This is the degeneracy of a Landau level, equal to the magnetic flux through the rectangle divided by the magnetic flux quantum . Consistent magnetic periodic boundary conditions make an integer.
Part (a) gives
For
their commutator is the scalar
It therefore commutes with both and . Applying the stated Baker--Campbell--Hausdorff identity in both orders yields the magnetic translation algebra
Writing , the translations commute exactly when their phase is one:
Thus the cell flux must be an integral multiple of the magnetic flux quantum: