Wave-function-based correlated ab initio calculations on crystalline solids

We present a wave-function-based approach to correlated ab initio calculati ons on crystalline insulators of infinite extent. It uses the representatio n of the occupied and the unoccupied (virtual) single-particle states of th e infinite solid in terms of Wannier functions. Electron correlation effect s are evaluated by considering virtual excitations from a small region in a nd around the reference cell, keeping the electrons of the rest of the infi nite crystal frozen at the Hartree-Fock level. The method is applied to stu dy the ground-state properties of the LiH crystal and is shown to yield rap idly convergent results. [S0163-1829(99)15531-0].