Distribution of electron orbits having a definite angular momentum in a static magnetic field

Electron orbits having a definite angular momentum in a static magnetic field are calculated with the aid of the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization rules. The quantization gives that orbits are arranged along a straight line but the distance between the centers of two neighboring orbits decreases with increase of the absolute value of the angular momentum. With the energy correction equal to the zero-point energy of the harmonic oscillator, the distribution of orbits becomes identical to that obtained recently with the aid of a mixed semiclassical and quantum mechanical theory. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.