Wannier functions from Bloch orbitals in solids

Abstract: Wannierfunctions are a superposition of the Blochorbitals in a Brillouin zone belonging to a manifold of energy bands. These Wannier functions have several uses regarding the analysis of the crystal on a local level. Since the Bloch orbital has a gauge indeterminacy and the Wannier functions therefore is strongly non-unique, the natural choice is the maximally localized Wannier funcition. These can be calculated from the standard Bloch orbital using unitary transformation by a steepest descent algorithm as proposed by Nicola Marzari and David Vanderbilt. Here the argument for this algorithm is discussed and explained.