[Tex/LaTex] Left aligning equations in gather environment

gatherhorizontal alignment

I'm a newbie in LATEX.
I like to eliminate any extra typing for syntax, partly because I'm not accustomed to LATEX syntax and partly because I'm lazy.

I know that my way is not a recommended way, but I prefer to write all the equations between ONE \begin{gather} and \end{gather},
so I don't need any & sign, $ sign, \begin{align}, etc. (And I don't like center-aligning. In this way I have to write space in text using \ instead of ' ', but usually most of the things I write is just equations, so that doesn't matter much.)
so my code is like this:

\documentclass[a4paper,10pt,fleqn]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,graphicx}
\setlength{\mathindent}{0pt}
\usepackage[margin=.5in]{geometry}


\newcommand{\nl}{\\[10pt]}
\begin{document}
\large\textbf{Advanced Plasma Physics}
\\Homework2 \hfill heptacle
\section*{1.}
\begin{gather}
(1)\ \phi=-\frac{z}{\sqrt{\pi}}\int_{\infty}^{-\infty}\frac{e^{-t^2}}{t-z}dt\\
\phi'=\frac{\phi}{z}-\frac{z}{\sqrt{\pi}}\int_{\infty}^{-\infty}\frac{e^{-t^2}}{(t-z)^2}dt\\
=\frac{\phi}{z}+\frac{2z}{\sqrt{\pi}}\int_{\infty}^{-\infty}\frac{te^{-t^2}}{t-z}dt\ (integration\ by\ part)\\
=\frac{\phi}{z}+\frac{2z}{\sqrt{\pi}}\int_{\infty}^{-\infty}(1+\frac{z}{t-z})e^{-t^2}dt\\
=\frac{\phi}{z}+2z-2z\phi\\
=\frac{\phi}{z}+2z(1-\phi)\\
\therefore\ \phi'=(\frac{1}{z}-2z)\phi+2z\\
\end{gather}
\end{document}

But the problem is that I wanna align equations on the equal sign so they would be more clear. But I coulnd't find any way for alinging in special position on gather environment. & sign doesn't work.
Or is there a way to left align all the equations in the align environment without & sign?

Best Answer

I propose you this layout:

\documentclass[a4paper,10pt,fleqn]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath, amssymb, graphicx}
\setlength{\mathindent}{0pt}
\usepackage[margin=.5in, showframe]{geometry}
\usepackage{titling}
\pretitle{\begin{center}\Large\bfseries}
\posttitle{\end{center}\vspace{2ex}}
\title{Advanced Plasma Physics}
\preauthor{\noindent\large Homework2\hfill}
\postauthor{}
\author{heptacle}
\date{}

\begin{document}

\maketitle
\section*{1.}
\begin{alignat*}{2}
\phi & =-\frac{z}{\sqrt{\pi}}\int_{\infty}^{-\infty}\frac{e^{-t^2}}{t-z}\,dt\\
 \phi ' & =\frac{\phi}{z}-\frac{z}{\sqrt{\pi}}\int_{\infty}^{-\infty}\!\frac{e^{-t^2}}{(t-z)^2}\,dt\\
 & =\frac{\phi}{z}+\frac{2z}{\sqrt{\pi}}\int_{\infty}^{-\infty}\frac{te^{-t^2}}{t-z}\,dt & \quad & \text{\footnotesize(integration\ by\ parts)}\\
 & =\frac{\phi}{z}+\frac{2z}{\sqrt{\pi}}\int_{\infty}^{-\infty}\Bigl(1+\frac{z}{t-z}\Bigr)e^{-t^2} dt\\
 & =\frac{\phi}{z}+2z-2z\phi\\
 & =\frac{\phi}{z}+2z(1-\phi) \\
  &\boldsymbol{\therefore} & \phi' &=\Bigl(\frac{1}{z}-2z\Bigr)\phi+2z
\end{alignat*}

\end{document}

enter image description here

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