Protected Fermionic Zero Modes in Periodic Gauge Fields

Võ Tiến Phong∗
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, U.S.A.
Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, U.S.A. and
The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, FL 32310, U.S.A.

Eugene J. Mele†
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, U.S.A.
(Dated: October 10, 2023)
It is well-known that macroscopically-normalizable zero-energy wavefunctions of spin- 12 particles in a two-
arXiv:2310.05913v1 [cond-mat.mes-hall] 9 Oct 2023

dimensional inhomogeneous magnetic field are spin-polarized and exactly calculable with degeneracy equaling
the number of flux quanta linking the whole system. Extending this argument to massless Dirac fermions sub-
jected to magnetic fields that have zero net flux but are doubly periodic in real space, we show that there exist
only two Bloch-normalizable zero-energy eigenstates, one for each spin flavor. This result is immediately rel-
evant to graphene multilayer systems subjected to doubly-periodic strain fields, which at low energies, enter
the Hamiltonian as periodic pseudo-gauge vector potentials. Furthermore, we explore various related settings
including nonlinearly-dispersing band structure models and systems with singly-periodic magnetic fields.

I. INTRODUCTION [15–22]. A naı̈ve application of the Aharonov-Casher theorem

The motion of a charged particle in a uniform magnetic
field is one of the simplest well-studied elementary problems
at both the classical and quantum levels [1, 2]. For a spatially-
varying field, the problem is more challenging even in its clas-
sical treatment and arises in a variety of physical contexts,
ranging from strategies for trapping of ultracold atoms [3–5]
to the shapes of orbits for charged particles circulating around
magnetic field lines in plasmas [6, 7]. Surprisingly, the two-
dimensional motion of a charge in an inhomogeneous mag-
netic field remains an analytically-accessible problem in the
extreme quantum limit owing to a separation of two frequency
(energy) scales. In a strong magnetic field, the kinetic energy
is effectively quenched by the cyclotron motion and the guid-
ing center of the cyclotron orbit can drift slowly in the pres-
ence of additional potentials. Aharonov and Casher famously
found that an exact cancellation of the zero-point energy in the
lowest cyclotron orbit and the Zeeman splitting with gyromag-
netic factor g = 2 produces a spin-polarized zero-energy state
that is macroscopically degenerate [8, 9]. This is the exact ana-
log of the lowest Landau level if the field were made spatially
uniform. Even with spatial variation, the degeneracy is deter-
mined only by the total magnetic flux linking the macroscopic
system and not on the spatial distribution of the field [8–10].
A variant of this problem arises in two-dimensional mate-
rials that are periodically patterned laterally [11–13]. For ex-
ample, in the linearly-dispersing bands for electrons in a sin-
gle layer of graphene, a periodic lattice strain is a momentum
boost encoded as an effective pseudo-vector potential [14].
This is completely analogous to the electromagnetic vector
potential except for its sign change in two time-reversed val-
leys. If the strain pattern is made periodic, the total pseudo-
flux that links the unit cell is separately zero for each valley
∗ vophong@sas.upenn.edu; vophong@magnet.fsu.edu
† mele@physics.upenn.edu
would therefore exclude the possibility of zero modes since
the total flux is zero and there is no analog to the Zeeman spin
polarization energy with g = 2.
In this article, we exploit the fact that neither of these condi-
tions is necessary when the pseudo-gauge field varies in space
but is made periodic on a superlattice. The wavefunctions in
the periodic problem need only be Bloch normalizable, with
support on a finite real-space supercell instead of a macro-
scopic two-dimensional domain. This weakens the normal-
izability condition and enables the existence of exactly two
zero-energy modes per valley. The constraint of restricting
these modes to a single pseudospin polarization is thereby also
eliminated: the analytic structure of these zero modes protects
one member from both pseudospins (sublattice polarizations)
in each valley. These zero-energy states are parts of dispersive
low-energy bands whose bandwidths can be estimated from
the velocity at these zero-energy crossings. The velocity de-
pends on the strength of the periodic pseudo-field and can be
significantly smaller than the backfolding energy scale pro-
duced by the periodic superlattice. For a general period and
a general field strength, one finds a manifold of spectrally-
isolated low-energy bands that possess a nontrivial quantum
geometry [18–20, 23, 24]. These zero-energy eigenfunctions
have recently been studied in Dirac systems subjected to real
periodic magnetic fields [25, 26] and strain-induced pseudo-
magnetic fields [20]. In the following, we develop these ideas
further for the linearly dispersing Dirac model. We then show
that these results generalize to other nonlinearly-dispersing
long-wavelength band structure models.
II. AHARONOV-CASHER ARGUMENT
For completeness, we begin with a brief summary of
Aharonov and Casher’s construction [8, 9, 27, 28]. We con-
sider a two-dimensional Dirac Hamiltonian in the presence of
a spatially-dependent (not yet assumed to be periodic) mag-
netic field B(r) = B(r)êz = [∂x Ay (r) − ∂y Ax (r)] êz of the

form
 e  situations, the relevant domain for the wavefunctions is not
H1 = ℏvF −i∇r + A(r) · σ, (1)
ℏ
where vF is the Dirac velocity and the Pauli matrices σ act
on generalized spin space [29]. Though not strictly necessary,
for simple analytic control, we assume that R B(r) has com-
pact support so that the total flux Φ = R2 B(r)d2 r is fi-
nite: ⌊|Φ|/Φ0 ⌋ = N, where Φ0 = h/e is the flux quantum
and N ∈ Z>0 is a positive integer. Assuming Lorenz gauge
∇ · A = 0, we can choose a scalar potential ϕ(r) such that
∂x ϕ(r) = Ay (r) and ∂y ϕ(r) = −Ax (r). This scalar poten-
tial satisfies Poisson’s equation sourced by the magnetic field,
∆ϕ(r) = B(r), with formal solution
Z mate the magnetic field with a finite number of Fourier har-
1 monics. Therefore, we can assume that the magnetic field is
ϕ(r) = B(r′ ) ln |r − r′ |d2 r′ . (2)
2π R2
By writing the zero-energy eigenstates for Hamiltonian (1) as
 +eϕ(r)/ℏ  magnetic flux, B̃0 = 0. Because of that, the vector potential
e f+ (r)
ψ(r) = −eϕ(r)/ℏ , (3)
e f− (r)
we find that (∂x ± i∂y ) f± (r) = 0. This implies that f±
are both entire functions [30]. The forms of these functions
are constrained by the normalizability of the wavefunction.
To ascertain these constraints, we observe that as |r| →
∞, the scalar potential tends to ϕ(r) → Φ ln |r| /2π =
Φ/2π
ln |r| . The exponentials in Eq. (3) have asymptotic be-
haviors e±eϕ(r)/ℏ → |r|±Φ/Φ0 . Since entire functions do
not decay globally, we only admit e−ηeϕ(r)/ℏ to ensure
normalizability, where η = sign (Φ). Finally, we require
lim|r|→∞ |r||f−η (r)|e−ηeϕ(r)/ℏ = 0, which implies that
f+ (z = x + iy) or f− (z̄ = x − iy) is a polynomial of de-
gree at most N − 1. Thus, the N independent solutions are
 
Θ [−η] −ηeϕ(r)/ℏ
ψn (r) = e (x − iηy)n , (4)
Θ [+η]
for n = 0, 1, 2, ..., N − 1. Here, Θ [η] is the Heaviside theta
function. In brief, Aharonov and Casher showed that electrons
in a magnetic field with total flux ⌊|Φ|⌋ = N Φ0 have N zero-
energy eigenstates that are spin polarized. In particular, the
wavefunctions can be written as products of analytic func-
tions of z or z̄ and exponentials of the scalar function ϕ(r).
This analysis is quite general since it does not assume any
particular form of the magnetic field except that it is com-
pactly supported. So the degeneracy of the zero modes is not
mandated by a spatial symmetry. However, chiral symmetry
σz Hσz = −H is crucial to the existence of these modes as
mass terms mσz would lift them away from zero energy.
III. ZERO MODES IN A DOUBLY-PERIODIC MAGNETIC
FIELD WITH NO NET MAGNETIC FLUX
The above analysis suggests that a magnetic field with zero
flux cannot induce any zero mode. This is only true in the
space of normalizable wavefunctions in the entire plane for
2
which the preceding analysis applies [9]. However, in certain
the entire plane. The spectrum of Dirac and Pauli operators in
the presence of a magnetic field have been studied in various
different domains and with fields of different regularities [31].
Of particular interest to us are systems with a magnetic field
that is periodic in two independent directions with primitive
lattice vectors L1 and L2 : B (r + n1 L1 + n2 L2 ) = B (r) ,
where n1 , n2 are integers. We can write the magnetic field as
a Fourier series
X
B(r) = B̃G eiG·r . (5)
G
For physically-relevant fields, it is often enough to approxi-
defined by its finite Fourier series [32]. This restriction can
be relaxed considerably, but such a generalization is of sec-
ondary importance for us here. We focus on the case of zero
can be written explicitly as
X iGy
Ax (r) = B̃G eiG·r ,
|G|2
G̸=0
X iGx (6)
iG·r
Ay (r) = − B̃G e .
|G|2
G̸=0
Thus, we conclude that A(r) has the same periodicity as
B(r). It is worth emphasizing that this fact follows from the
vanishing magnetic flux. If B̃0 were not zero, there would
have been a non-periodic component to the vector poten-
tial, such as Ay (r) = B̃0 x + ... This is exactly like a
translationally-invariant constant magnetic field having mag-
netic vector potentials that are not translationally-invariant.
With A(r) proven to be periodic when B(r) carries no flux,
it is clear that the Hamiltonian (1) is spatially periodic. It thus
follows from Bloch’s theorem that the eigenfunctions must
have periodic norm. The appropriate solution space now be-
comes that of normalizable wavefunctions on a compact torus,
not the entire plane.
We now adapt the argument of Ref. [8] to the restricted set-
ting of a torus. Still writing the
P zero-energy eigenstates as
in Eq. (3), where ϕ(r) = − G̸=0 B̃G eiG·r /|G|2 is also
a continuous periodic function, we still find that f+ (z) and
f− (z̄) are analytic functions of z and z̄ respectively. Now,
by requiring that the wavefunction be continuous and have
periodic norm, it follows that the wavefunction components
e±eϕ(r)/ℏ f± (r) must be globally bounded as well. Since the
exponential factors are globally bounded as ϕ(r) is periodic,
it must be the case that |f± (z)| is globally bounded. By Li-
ouville’s theorem that globally-bounded, entire functions are
constants, we find that f± must be spatially uniform. Thus,
there are only two independent zero-mode solutions with pe-
riodic norm, henceforth called Bloch zero modes:
   
1 eeϕ(r)/ℏ 1 0
ψ+ (r) = and ψ− (r) = ,
A+ 0 A− e−eϕ(r)/ℏ
(7)
 3

where A± are normalization constants are given by

Z  21
±2eϕ(r)/ℏ 2
A± = e d r , (8)
Ω

and Ω is the unit cell. These same solutions were also studied
in Ref. [20]. Eq. (7) shows that even when the net magnetic
flux is zero, there are still two zero modes, but these modes
are only normalizable within a unit cell. Furthermore, on a
torus, we have zero modes of both spin flavors, contrary to
the original formulation where the zero modes are spin po-
larized. However, these two Bloch zero modes feature spatial
spin isolation because ψ+ is enhanced precisely where ψ− is
suppressed due to the different signs in the exponential. Ex-
amples are shown in Fig. 1.
These Bloch zero modes can be interpreted in the con-
text of a band structure. In the absence a magnetic field,
the energies of Hamiltoninan (1) form two linear branches:
E± = ±ℏvF |k|, where k is the wavevector. These branches
cross exactly at k = 0. In the presence of a periodic magnetic
field, the spectrum consists of bands defined within a Brillouin
zone. Generically, one would expect the degeneracy point at
E = 0 to be gapped out by a general periodic field without any
symmetry. Our analysis proves the contrary, that the degener-
acy point remains intact no matter the form of the magnetic Figure 1. Zero modes in a periodic magnetic field. The
field. Therefore, the bands near E = 0 must at minimum form magnetic fieldP for the top panels forms a triangular lattice
a doublet set. The Dirac velocity is, however, renormalized by B(r) = B0 3i=1 cos (G · r) , where G1 = G (0, 1) , G2 =
√
√

the magnetic field. Using first-order perturbation theory, the G − 3/2, −1/2 , and G1 = G 3/2, −1/2 . The magnetic
renormalized velocity vrenorm is given by field for the bottom panels is B(r) = B0 (cos 2πx + cos 2πy) . We
emphasize that the two eigenstates are localized on dual lattices.
vrenorm |Ω|
= . (9)
vF A+ A−
We find the following conditions: ∂z f1,− = 0 and ∂z̄ f2,+ =
By the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, |Ω| ≤ A+ A− . So the ve- 0, which imply that f1,− and f2,+ must be constants. If f1,− ̸=
locity is always renormalized downward as expected. In order 0 and f2,+ ̸= 0, then the remaining two functions satisfy,
γ1 γ1
for the velocity to vanish, A± → ∞. However, as long as for complex constants c1 = 2iℏv F
f2,+ and c2 = 2iℏv F
f1,− ,
e±eϕ(r)/ℏ is integrable, which we assume, this condition is ∂z̄ f1,+ = c1 and ∂z f2,− = c2 . This implies that there are
never exactly satisfied. So, for physical magnetic fields, the functions F1,+ = f1,+ − c1 z̄ and F2,− = f2,− − c2 z sat-
bands can be made very narrow, but never exactly flat, at least isfying ∂z̄ F1,+ = 0 and ∂z F2,− = 0. So, F1,+ and F2,−
to first order in perturbation theory. are holomorphic with respect to z and z̄ respectively. Conse-
It is straightforward to show the existence of Bloch zero quently, the original functions can be written as
modes in a variety of other settings. To start, let us consider a
4 × 4 Hamiltonian inspired by Bernal bilayer graphene of the f1,+ = c1 z̄ + F1,+ , f2,− = c2 z + F2,− . (12)
form
Now imposing a global bound B1 , we observe via the reverse
0 Π− 0 0
 
triangle inequality that for f1,+
Π 0 γ1 /ℏvF 0 
H2 = ℏvF  + , (10)
0 γ1 /ℏvF 0 Π−  |F1,+ | − |c1 z̄| ≤ |c1 z̄ + F1,+ | < B1 , (13)
0 0 Π+ 0
which implies that F1,+ has at most linear growth, |F1,+ | <
where Π± = −i∂x + ℏe Ax ± i −i∂y + ℏe Ay and γ1 is a



B1 + |c1 ||z|. Now, because F1,+ is entire, the generalized Li-
constant. Again, we assume that B(r) is periodic and ϕ(r) is ouville’s theorem states that we can write F1,+ = a0 + a1 z.
a scalar potential defined as before. Then, we write the zero- A similar reasoning applies to F2,− . In the end, we can in
energy eigenstates for Hamiltonian (10) as general write
 +eϕ(r)/ℏ 
e f1,+ (r) f1,+ = a0 + a1 z + c1 z̄, f2,− = b0 + b1 z̄ + c2 z. (14)
e−eϕ(r)/ℏ f1,− (r)
ψ(r) = e+eϕ(r)/ℏ f2,+ (r) .
 (11)
Finally, imposing periodicity on |f1,+ | and |f2,− | eliminates
e−eϕ(r)/ℏ f2,− (r) a1 , c1 , b1 , c2 . Thus, we arrive at the conclusion that there are
 4

only two Bloch zero modes, which can be written explicitly brought into a direct sum of a monolayer and a bilayer
as  
    0 Π− 0 0 0 0
e+eϕ(r)/ℏ 0 Π+ 0 0 0 0 0 
1   and ψ− (r) = 1  0
 
0     0 0 0 Π − 0 0
ψ+ (r) = . √

A+

0 A− 0 H̃3 = ℏvF   .
    0 0 Π + √ 0 2γ 1 /ℏv F 0 
−eϕ(r)/ℏ
0 e
 
 0 0 0 2γ1 /ℏvF 0 Π− 
(15) 0 0 0 0 Π+ 0
It is worth pointing out the formal similarity between Eq. (18)
(15) and Eq. (7). The only difference between the two is the So the zero modes analyzed before remain valid in this sit-
number of internal degrees of freedom. The band structure uation. In this particular example, the count of zero modes is
of Bernal bilayer graphene under a periodic pseudo-magnetic four: two for the monolayer sector and two for the bilayer sec-
field was studied in Ref. [23], wherein these same zero-modes tor.
were found.
The argument above can be extended to show that for any
number of layers for chirally-stacked multilayer, there are also IV. ZERO MODES IN A SINGLY-PERIODIC MAGNETIC
two zero modes given explicitly by formulas similar to Eq. FIELD
(15). The argument is simple but tedious; essentially, it is just
a recursion of the steps done in the bilayer graphene. So we For a final generalization, we consider a magnetic field that
leave it for Appendix A. Here, we present an alternative, much is periodic along one direction only. A different, but closely
quicker, method to obtain the same result. In the absence of a related, problem was studied in Ref. [9] using doubly-periodic
magnetic field, it is well-known that the low-energy spectrum Weierstrass sigma functions. Here, we do not assume that the
of chirally-stacked multilayer graphene is a polynomial two- magnetic field is also periodic in the second direction. Without
band crossing of the form E± ∝ |k|ℓ , where ℓ is the number loss of generality, let B(x, y) = B(x + n, y), where n is an
of layers [33]. The appropriate Hamiltonian describing only integer, repeat in the x-direction but be a general function in
these two bands is also of chiral form the y-direction. Other cases can be similarly obtained via a

0 Πℓ−
 rotation and scaling of coordinates. The dimensions of x, y
Heff,ℓ ∝ . (16) are suppressed. We do not assume that this magnetic field has
Πℓ+ 0
vanishing flux. We write the scalar potential as [35]
There are two Bloch zero modes to this Hamiltonian (16) Z Z 1
2
given by Eq. (7). This follows immediately by noting ϕ(x, y) = dy ′
dx′ B(x′ , y ′ )G(x − x′ , y − y ′ ),
the properties Π− e−eϕ(r)/ℏ f− = −2ie−eϕ(r)/ℏ ∂z f− and R − 12 (19)
Π+ e+eϕ(r)/ℏ f+ = −2ie+eϕ(r)/ℏ ∂z̄ f+ . So the exponentials 1
can be pulled past the derivatives, which then annihilate the G(x, y) = ln [cosh (2πy) − cos (2πx)] .
4π
remaining constant, nulling the whole function as desired.
Therefore, the two Bloch zero modes in Eq. (7) satisfy band A brief derivation of the Green’s function is presented in
degeneracy of any order, not just linear band crossings. As Appendix B. It is straightforward to check that ϕ(x, y) =
presented, this method does not exclude the possibility that ϕ(x + n, y) as desired. It immediately follows that the cor-
there may be more than two zero modes, but with some more responding A(r) is also periodic in the x-direction. As a
work, one can probably eliminate that possibility as well. consequence, the Hamiltonian is defined on a cylinder. In
It is worth mentioning briefly that the aforementioned con- the limit |y| → ∞, ϕ(r) → Φ ln [cosh (2π|y|)] /4π, where
siderations immediately imply that odd-layer ABA multilayer R R1
Φ = R dy −2 1 dxB(x, y). So the exponential factors tend
graphene in a periodic gauge field with zero flux also pos- 2
±Φ/2Φ
sesses zero modes. This is because odd-layer ABA multilayer to the following limits: e±eϕ/ℏ → [cosh (2π|y|)] 0
. For
2π|y| ±eϕ/ℏ
graphene, due to a layer-exchange symmetry, can be decom- large |y|, cosh(2π|y|) → e /2. So, we have e →
posed into direct sum of chiral sectors which host zero modes e±π|y|Φ/Φ0 . Because we insist the f± functions have peri-
[34]. As an example, we show this for ABA trilayer graphene. odic norm in the x-direction, they must grow (unless they
Then, the generalization to any number of layers should be are constants) in the y-direction. Therefore, we must again
straightforward. The Hamiltonian for an ABA trilayer is choose e−eηϕ(r)/ℏ . We initially consider f± functions with
period 1 in the x-direction: f+ (z) = e2πmiz and f− (z̄) =
0 Π− 0 0 0 0 e−2πmiz̄ , where m are integers. We need to determine restric-
 
 Π+ 0 γ1 /ℏvF 0 0 0  tions on m to ensure normalizability. If Φ > 0, then we have
 0 γ1 /ℏvF 0 Π− 0 γ1 /ℏvF  e−ϕ(r)/ℏ f− (z̄) → e−2πmix−(2πmy+π|y|Φ/Φ0 ) → 0 for both
 
H3 = ℏvF  .
 0 0 Π+ 0 0 0  positive and negative large y if |m| < Φ/2Φ0 . If Φ < 0, then
 0 0 0 0 0 Π−  we have e+ϕ(r)/ℏ f+ (z) → e+2πmix−(2πmy−π|y|Φ/Φ0 ) → 0
0 0 γ1 /ℏvF 0 Π+ 0 for both positive and negative large y if |m| < −Φ/2Φ0 . If we
(17) lift the requirement that f± has period 1 in x but instead has
Upon a unitary transformation, this Hamiltonian can be integer period M > 1, then everything stays the same in the
 5

above analysis except for the replacement m → m/M. This procedure. If the magnetic field has a constant component,
extension in the period is allowed by Bloch’s theorem because then one can choose an axis along which the magnetic vec-
Bloch eigenstates do not need to be periodic, only their norms tor potential is non-periodic. Then, the remaining orthogonal
need to be. We can write this new m as m = qM + p, where direction can be periodic or not. If it is, then the final general-
q ∈ Z and p ∈ [0, M − 1] . Using this, we can write eigen- ization just discussed can be applied, as was done in Ref. [25].
states explicitly in Bloch form ψkx ,q (r) = e−iηkx x ukx ,q (r), If it is not, then we are back to the original Aharonov-Casher
where setup.
 
Θ [−η] −ηeϕ(r)/ℏ −2πqηix−(2πq+kx )y
ukx ,q (r) = e e , (20)
Θ [+η]

where kx = 2πp/M = [0, 2π) and ukx ,q (x, y) = ukx ,q (x + V. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
n, y). In the limit M → ∞, kx becomes a continuous
variable. The indices are still subject to the constraint |q + In closing, it is worth emphasizing again that our arguments
kx /2π| < |Φ|/2Φ0 . apply only to fermions described by the Dirac equation (or in
As an example, we take B(x, y) = B0 + B1 cos (2πx/L) , the multilayer graphene case, described by the 2ℓ × 2ℓ Hamil-
where L is the period [36]. Strictly speaking, the preceding tonians, where ℓ is the number of layers). The complementary
analysis does not apply to this magnetic profile because it is problem concerning the spectrum of Schrodinger fermions in
not compactly supported and the magnetic flux can be infinite. a periodic magnetic field governed by the Hamiltonian H ∝
However, as we will show, Eq. (20) still produces the correct (p + eA)2 has a very different structure and is considerably
zero-energy solutions. The corresponding scalar potential is more complicated [37–44]. Whereas Schrodinger fermions
are historically relevant to physics in two-dimensional elec-
B0 y 2 B1 L2
 
2π tron gases, Dirac fermions are prominent in modern two-
ϕ(x, y) = − cos x . (21)
2 4π 2 L dimensional materials [45–47]. Graphene is probably the most
well-known member of this family. In addition to a real mag-
Assuming B0 > 0, the eigenstates are netic field, the same physics can be obtained in graphene by
eB0 y 2 eB1 L2
subjecting it to a strain field since such a field behaves ef-
cos( 2π
L x)−ikx x−kx y
e− +  
2ℏ 4π 2 ℏ 0 fectively as a pseudo-magnetic vector potential necessarily
ψkx (r) = , (22) with zero flux. Therefore, our analysis is especially relevant to
Ak x 1
graphene and its multilayer cousins. Beyond graphene, Dirac
where the normalization is given explicitly as fermions can also be found at boundaries of topological in-
sulators [25, 48]. Though these boundary spectra generically
 14  12
πL2 ℏ kx2 ℏ eB1 L2 disperse linearly, they can have nonlinear dispersions as well
   
Ak x = exp I0 , (23) like in topological crystalline insulators [49]. In these cases,
B0 e 2eB0 2π 2 ℏ
subjecting the surfaces with topologically-nontrivial bound-
where I0 (x) is the modified Bessel function. From the normal- ary states to a patterned periodic magnetic field should induce
ization factor, we see that the eigenstates exist for all real kx ; the indicated manifolds of zero modes that are localized on
2
this is because the Gaussian factor e−y decays much faster the boundaries.
than the remaining factors. If B1 = 0, we recover exactly the We acknowledge funding from the U.S. Department of En-
lowest Landau level. This example illustrates a very general ergy under grant DE-FG02-84ER45118.

Appendix A: Zero Modes in ℓ-Layer Chirally-Stacked Multilayer Graphene

In this section, we prove that there are two zero-modes for ℓ-layer chirally-stacked multilayer graphene in doubly-periodic
magnetic fields. This is analogous to the method presented for ℓ = 2 in the main text. The Hamiltonian is

0 Π− 0 0 ... 0 0 0 0
 
Π+ 0 γ1 /ℏvF 0 ... 0 0 0 0 
 0 γ1 /ℏvF 0 Π− ... 0 0 0 0
 

 0 0 Π+ 0 ... 0 0 0 0
 

 . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Hℓ = ℏvF  .
 . . . . . . . . .

 , (A1)
 0 0 0 0 ... 0 Π− 0 0 
 
 0 0 0 0 . . . Π+ 0 γ1 /ℏvF 0 
 
 0 0 0 0 . . . 0 γ1 /ℏvF 0 Π− 
0 0 0 0 ... 0 0 Π+ 0 2ℓ×2ℓ
 6

where Π± = −i∂x + ℏe Ax ± i −i∂y + ℏe Ay = −i ∂x ∓ ℏe Ay + ±∂y + ℏe Ax = −i ∂x ∓ ℏe ∂x ϕ + ±∂y − ℏe ∂y ϕ . It

is clear that for any function of the form e+eϕ(r)/ℏ f+ (r) or e−eϕ(r)/ℏ f− (r), we have
h i
Π+ e+eϕ(r)/ℏ f+ (r) = e+eϕ(r)/ℏ (−i∂x + ∂y ) f+ (r) = −ie+eϕ(r)/ℏ (∂x + i∂y ) f+ (r) = −2ie+eϕ(r)/ℏ ∂z̄ f+ (r),
h i (A2)
Π− e−eϕ(r)/ℏ f− (r) = e−eϕ(r)/ℏ (−i∂x − ∂y ) f− (r) = −ie−eϕ(r)/ℏ (∂x − i∂y ) f− (r) = −2ie−eϕ(r)/ℏ ∂z f− (r).

Then, writing the zero-mode eigenfunctions as

T
ψ(r) = e+eϕ(r)/ℏ f1,+ e−eϕ(r)/ℏ f1,− e+eϕ(r)/ℏ f2,+ e−eϕ(r)/ℏ f2,− . . . e+eϕ(r)/ℏ fℓ,+ e−eϕ(r)/ℏ fℓ,− , (A3)

we are led to the following conditions:

∂z f1,− = 0,
γ1 f1,− − 2iℏvF ∂z f2,− = 0,
γ1 f2,− − 2iℏvF ∂z f3,− = 0, (A4)
..
.
γ1 fℓ−1,− − 2iℏvF ∂z fℓ,− = 0,

and
−2iℏvF ∂z̄ f1,+ + γ1 f2,+ = 0,
−2iℏvF ∂z̄ f2,+ + γ1 f3,+ = 0,
.. (A5)
.
−2iℏvF ∂z̄ fℓ−1,+ + γ1 fℓ,+ = 0,
∂z̄ fℓ,+ = 0,

A symmetry is clear: the − series does not couple to the + series. This is essential to the argument. Now, let us focus on the
+ series. The last condition requires that fℓ,+ be an entire function. Since it is bounded, it must be a constant. Then, we have
γ1
∂z̄ fℓ−1,+ = 2iℏv F
fℓ,+ = cℓ,+ . This means that we can write fℓ−1,+ = Fℓ−1,+ + cℓ,+ z̄, where Fℓ−1,+ is holomorphic. Now,
since fℓ−1,+ has periodic norm, we can write its bound as Bℓ−1,+ . Then, by using the reverse triangle inequality, we have

|Fℓ−1,+ | − |cℓ,+ z̄| ≤ |Fℓ−1,+ + cℓ,+ z̄| < Bℓ−1,+ → |Fℓ−1,+ | < Bℓ−1,+ + |cℓ,+ z|. (A6)

So Fℓ−1,+ must be at most a linear function of z. But since fℓ−1,+ has periodic norm, this implies that cℓ,+ = 0 and Fℓ−1,+
is actually a constant. Thus, we conclude that fℓ,+ = 0 and fℓ−1,+ is a constant. Now, using that, we obtain that ∂z̄ fℓ−2,+ =
γ1
2iℏvF fℓ−1,+ = cℓ−1,+ . Then repeating the line of reasoning above, we obtain that cℓ−1,+ = 0 → fℓ−1,+ = 0 and fℓ−2,+ is a
constant. This recursive procedure continues until we get to f1,+ , where we can only conclude that it is a constant but not zero.
Next, we study the − series. This is essentially the same process in reverse with z 7→ z̄. From the first condition, ∂z f1,− = 0,
we get that f1,− is a constant. Then, ∂z f2,− = c1,− , which by the same argument above, implies that f1,− = 0 and f2,− is a
constant. The same recursive argument then applies to all other terms showing that f1,− = f2,− = f3,− = ... = fℓ−1,− = 0
and fℓ,− is a non-zero constant. Therefore, we conclude that there are only two zero modes with periodic norm, which can be
written explicitly as
   
e+eϕ(r)/ℏ 0
 0   0 
1  .
 1  .

ψ+ (r) =

..  and ψ− (r) =
  .. .

(A7)
A+  A− 
 
 
 0   0 
0 e−eϕ(r)/ℏ

Appendix B: Green’s Function of Two-Dimensional Periodic Laplacian

In this section, we provide a brief derivation of the Green’s function of the two-dimensional periodic Laplacian. This is a
textbook result [35]; we only provide it here to make the manuscript self-contained, and do not claim any originality in this
 7

derivation. We seek the solution for G(x, x′ , y, y ′ )

∞ ∞
∂ 2 G(x, x′ , y, y ′ ) ∂ 2 G(x, x′ , y, y ′ ) X
′ ′
X
+ = δ 2
(r − px̂ − r ) = δ(y − y ) δ(x − p − x′ ). (B1)
∂x2 ∂y 2 p=−∞ p=−∞

We perform Fourier transformation using the following convention:

∞ Z 1
2
2πni(x−x′ ) ′
X
′ ′ ′ ′
G(x, x , y, y ) = G̃n (y, y )e and G̃n (y, y ) = dxG(x, x′ , y, y ′ )e−2πni(x−x ) , (B2)
n=−∞ − 21

which leads to the following ordinary differential equation in reciprocal space:

∂ 2 G̃n (y, y ′ )
− 4π 2 n2 G̃n (y, y ′ ) = δ(y − y ′ ). (B3)
∂y 2

This can be solved for y − y ′ < 0 and y − y ′ > 0 separately, and then matched at y − y ′ = 0 for continuity in the function and
discontinuity in the derivative of the function
1
G̃0 (y, y ′ ) =|y − y ′ | + c,
2
1 −2π|n||y−y′ | (B4)
G̃n̸=0 (y, y ′ ) = − e ,
4π|n|

where we have exploited the symmetry (y − y ′ ) → −(y − y ′ ). Now, inverting the Fourier transform, we obtain
1 X 1 ′ ′
G(x, x′ , y, y ′ ) = |y − y ′ | + c − e−2π|n||y−y | e2πni(x−x ) . (B5)
2 4π|n|
n̸=0

|y|
1
e−2π|n||y| e2πnix = ln 2 1
P
Using the following summation identity − n̸=0 4π|n| 4π − 2 + 4π ln [cosh (2π|y|) − cos (2πx)] , we
′ ′
obtain G(x, x , y, y ) = 4π ln [cosh (2π|y − y |) − cos (2π|x − x |)] + c . For simplicity, we set c′ = 0. Because the hyperbolic
1 ′ ′ ′

cosine is an even function, we can drop the absolute value on y to write

1
G(x, x′ , y, y ′ ) = ln [cosh (2π (y − y ′ )) − cos (2π (x − x′ ))] . (B6)
4π
Obviously, this Green’s function is singular at (x + n, y) = (x′ , y ′ ). Direct calculation confirms that ∆r G(x, x′ , y, y ′ ) = 0
everywhere else. For a function ϕ(x, y) satisfying the Poisson’s equation

∂ 2 ϕ(x, y) ∂ 2 ϕ(x, y)
+ = B(x, y), (B7)
∂x2 ∂y 2
we can write its formal solution has a convolution with the Green’s function
Z ∞ Z 12
ϕ(x, y) = dy ′ dx′ B(x′ , y ′ )G(x, x′ , y, y ′ ). (B8)
−∞ − 21

We do not worry much about the boundary condition of ϕ(x, y). We only require that it be periodic in x, which is clear since
G(x + n, x′ , y, y ′ ) = G(x, x′ , y, y ′ ) :
1 1
Z ∞ Z 2
Z ∞ Z 2
ϕ(x + n, y) = dy ′ dx′ B(x′ , y ′ )G(x + n, x′ , y, y ′ ) = dy ′ dx′ B(x′ , y ′ )G(x, x′ , y, y ′ ) = ϕ(x, y). (B9)
−∞ − 12 −∞ − 12

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