Molecular-orbital representation of generic flat-band models

We develop a framework to describe a wide class of flat-band models, with and without a translational symmetry, by using "molecular orbitals" introduced in the prior work (HATSUGAI Y. and MARUYAMA I., \textit{EPL}, \textbf{95}, (2011) 20003). Using the molecular-orbital representation, we shed new light on the band-touching problem between flat and dispersive bands. We show that the band touching occurs as a result of collapse, or the linearly dependent nature, of molecular orbitals. Conversely, we can gap out the flat bands by modulating the molecular orbitals so that they do not collapse, which provides a simple prescription to construct models having a finite energy gap between flat bands and dispersive bands.