  We have analyzed the experimental evidence of charge and orbital ordering in
La0.5Sr1.5MnO4 using first principles band structure calculations. Our results
suggest the presence of two types of Mn sites in the system. One of the Mn
sites behaves like an Mn(3+) ion, favoring a Jahn-Teller distortion of the
surrounding oxygen atoms, while the distortion around the other is not a simple
breathing mode kind. Band structure effects are found to dominate the
experimental spectrum for orbital and charge ordering, providing an alternate
explanation for the experimentally observed results.
