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On Löwdin orthogonalization
Author(s) -
Aiken John G.,
Erdos John A.,
Goldstein Jerome A.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
international journal of quantum chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.484
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-461X
pISSN - 0020-7608
DOI - 10.1002/qua.560180416
Subject(s) - orthogonalization , metric (unit) , atomic orbital , mathematics , algorithm , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering , operations management , electron
It is shown that the Löwdin orthogonalization gives the unique minimum for the functional ϕ measuring the least squares distance between the given orbitals and the orthogonalized orbitals. Furthermore a much stronger result is obtained, namely that ϕ has only one local minimum, which is attained at the Löwdin orthogonalization and which is global. This justifies certain computer programs that compute Löwdin orthogonalization via minimization procedures. Finally there is a discussion of replacing the least squares metric by other metrics. The Löwdin orthogonalization turns out to be optimal with respect to all the commonly encountered norms.