-Ther Tersoff potential \cite{tersoff1} \ldots
-
-\begin{equation}
-V_{ij} = f_C(r_{ij}) [ f_R(r_{ij}) + b_{ij} f_A(r_{ij}) ]
-\end{equation}
-
-The total energy is then given by
-\begin{equation}
-E = \frac{1}{2} \sum_{i \ne j} V_{ij} \, \textrm{.}
-\end{equation}
-
-
+Tersoff proposed an empirical interatomic potential for covalent systems.
+The Tersoff potential explicitly incorporates the dependence of bond order on local envirenments, permitting an improved description of covalent materials.
+Tersoff applied the potential to silicon \cite{tersoff_silicon1,tersoff_silicon2,tersoff_silicon3}, carbon \cite{tersoff_carbon} and also to multicomponent systems like $SiC$ \cite{tersoff_multi}.
+The basic idea is that, in real systems, the bond order depends upon the local environment.
+An atom with many neighbours forms weaker bonds than an atom with few neighbours.
+
+The interatomic potential is taken to have the form
+\begin{eqnarray}
+E & = & \sum_i E_i = \frac{1}{2} \sum_{i \ne j} V_{ij} \textrm{ ,} \\
+V_{ij} & = & f_C(r_{ij}) [ f_R(r_{ij}) + b_{ij} f_A(r_{ij}) ] \textrm{ .}
+\end{eqnarray}
+$E$ is the total energy of the system, constituted either by the sum over the site energies $E_i$ or by the bond energies $V_{ij}$.
+The indices $i$ and $j$ correspond to the atoms of the system with $r_{ij}$ being the distance from atom $i$ to atom $j$.
+
+The functions $f_R$ and $f_A$ represent a repulsive and an attractive pair potential.
+The repulsive part is due to the orthogonalization energy of overlapped atomic wave functions.
+The attractive part is associated with the bonding.
+\begin{eqnarray}
+f_R(r_{ij}) & = & A_{ij} \exp (- \lambda_{ij} r_{ij} ) \\
+f_A(r_{ij}) & = & -B_{ij} \exp (- \mu_{ij} r_{ij} )
+\end{eqnarray}
+The function $f_C$ is the potential cutoff function to limit the range of the potential.
+It is designed to have a smooth transition of the potential at distances $R_{ij}$ and $S_{ij}$.