A steepest-descent method for the calculation of localized orbitals and pseudoorbitals

A method for direct calculation of localized non-orthogonal orbitals, which has been proposed by the authors recently, is extended to cases where the overlap between different subsystems is very large. This is achieved by using a steepest-descent procedure. In addition, a computationally simple treatment of correlation effects is introduced into the method by means of the density functional formalism. Results of the method are given for e.g. LiH, CH₄, Ne₂, CO,(FH)₂.