Effect of Landau Level Mixing for Electrons in Random Magnetic Field

Abstract

An effective Hamiltonian approach is used to study the effect of Landau-level mixing on the energy spectrum of electrons in a smooth but random magnetic field B(r) with a finite uniform component B_0. It is found that, as opposed to electrostatic disorder, the energy levels of localized electrons shift upward with a rate of order O(1/B_0) when B_0 is decreased, while the extended states remain static at the same order. Therefore, there is no indication that the extended states will float out of the Fermi energy and induce a metal-insulator transition as the magnetic disorder is increased. We also find that the Zeeman term may have significant effect on the spectral shift of low-lying Landau levels.