Environment-dependent tight-binding models from ab initio pseudo-atomic orbital Hamiltonians

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Nardelli, Marco Buongiorno
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Nardelli, Marco Buongiorno
author_facet Nardelli, Marco Buongiorno
contents \textit{Ab initio} pseudo-atomic orbital (PAO) Hamiltonians express the electronic structure of a solid in a compact, localized basis that spans the same Hilbert space as a conventional Slater--Koster tight-binding model, thereby providing an exact \textit{ab initio} representation without any loss of accuracy. Building on this correspondence, we develop an environment-dependent tight-binding (EDTB) framework in which Slater--Koster hopping integrals are augmented with bond-screening functions that capture the local coordination environment. All parameters are determined by fitting to the PAO eigenvalue spectrum across multiple atomic configurations simultaneously, which breaks the degeneracy between screening and hopping parameters and yields physically meaningful, transferable models capable of generating Hamiltonians for large systems with \textit{ab initio} precision. We demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the approach on four prototypical systems: bulk platinum, silicon surfaces, Si/Ge~[001] superlattices, and twisted bilayer graphene with up to $4{,}324$ atoms. The method is implemented in the \paoflow{} code and integrates seamlessly with its full post-processing suite, enabling the evaluation of a broad range of electronic, optical, and transport properties.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_14470
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Environment-dependent tight-binding models from ab initio pseudo-atomic orbital Hamiltonians
Nardelli, Marco Buongiorno
Materials Science
\textit{Ab initio} pseudo-atomic orbital (PAO) Hamiltonians express the electronic structure of a solid in a compact, localized basis that spans the same Hilbert space as a conventional Slater--Koster tight-binding model, thereby providing an exact \textit{ab initio} representation without any loss of accuracy. Building on this correspondence, we develop an environment-dependent tight-binding (EDTB) framework in which Slater--Koster hopping integrals are augmented with bond-screening functions that capture the local coordination environment. All parameters are determined by fitting to the PAO eigenvalue spectrum across multiple atomic configurations simultaneously, which breaks the degeneracy between screening and hopping parameters and yields physically meaningful, transferable models capable of generating Hamiltonians for large systems with \textit{ab initio} precision. We demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the approach on four prototypical systems: bulk platinum, silicon surfaces, Si/Ge~[001] superlattices, and twisted bilayer graphene with up to $4{,}324$ atoms. The method is implemented in the \paoflow{} code and integrates seamlessly with its full post-processing suite, enabling the evaluation of a broad range of electronic, optical, and transport properties.
title Environment-dependent tight-binding models from ab initio pseudo-atomic orbital Hamiltonians
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.14470