On the construction of composite Wannier functions (Q730129)

The existence and construction of exponentially localized Wannier functions is one of the fundamental problems in solid-state physics. The authors give a constructive proof for the existence of a Bloch basis of rank \(N\) which is both smooth and periodic with respect to its \(d\)-dimensional quasi-momenta, when \(1\leq d\leq 2\) and \(N\geq 1\). Also it is shown that, by adding a weak, globally bounded but not necessarily constant magnetic field, the existence of a localized basis is preserved.