Revisiting the Fermi Surface in Density Functional Theory

The Fermi surface is an abstract object in the reciprocal space of a crystal lattice, enclosing the set of all those electronic band states that are filled according to the Pauli principle. Its topology is dictated by the underlying lattice structure and its volume is the carrier density in the material. The Fermi surface is central to predictions of thermal, electrical, magnetic, optical and superconducting properties in metallic systems. Density functional theory is a first-principles method used to estimate the occupied-band energies and, in particular, the isoenergetic Fermi surface. In this review we survey several key facts about Fermi surfaces in complex systems, where a proper theoretical understanding is still lacking. We address some critical difficulties.