Electronic structure and magnetism of surfaces and interfaces: Selected examples

Magnetism in low dimensional systems continues as an exciting area of research both experimentally and theoretically. Recent developments of electronic structure theory include realistic theoretical local spin-density predictions of the electronic and magnetic properties of bulk materials, their surfaces, thin films and multi-layers. These results are essential ingredients in guiding the choice of systems to be studied experimentally, and in the interpretation of experimental results. This paper reports some recent predictions of theory including first principles determinations of magnetic anisotropy.