2 Exotic particle in the plane

Taking advantage of the two-parameter central extension of the planar Galilei group, we construct a non relativistic particle model in the plane. Owing to the extra structure, the coordinates do not commute. Our model can be viewed as the non-relativistic counterpart of the relativistic anyon considered before by Jackiw and Nair. For a particle moving in a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane, the two parameters combine with the magnetic field to provide an effective mass. For vanishing effective mass the phase space admits a two-dimensional reduction, which represents the condensation to collective " Hall " motions, and justifies the rule called " Peierls substitution ". Quantization yields the wave functions proposed by Laughlin to describe the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect.