We have derived an expression for the magnetic susceptibility of topologically trivial insulators, however an important consideration for any response tensor is whether it is gauge-invariant. By this we refer to the gauge-freedom in choosing the Bloch functions one uses in a computation since multiplication by an arbitrary $\textbf{ k}$-dependent complex phase produces equally valid Bloch functions. Additionally Wannier functions, which can be constructed by a unitary mixing of the Bloch functions, are a useful basis for computation due to their localized properties, but are strongly non-unique. Therefore, we show that the theoretical expression we derived is independent of the choice of Bloch functions or Wannier functions used, and thus is gauge-invariant in this sense.
Categories: cond-mat.mes-hall