Decay properties of the density matrix and Wannier functions for interacting systems

For non-interacting electrons the one-particle density matrix and the related Wannier functions characterize a material as insulating or metallic. Introducing many-body Wannier functions, we show that this characterization can be carried over to interacting systems. In particular, we find that an exponential decay of the density matrix characterizes not only band insulators but also Mott insulators. The properties of the many-body Wannier functions differ, however, from those of the Wannier functions of a non-interacting systems.