Excitons in insulating cuprates
  We study the electronic excitations near the charge-transfer gap in insulating CuO$_2$ planes, starting from a six-band model which includes $% p_\pi $ and $d_{xy}$ orbitals and Cu-O nearest-neighbor repulsion $U_{pd}$. While the low lying electronic excitations in the doped system are well described by a modified $t-J$ model, the excitonic states of the insulator include hybrid $d_{xy}-$ $p_\pi $ states of $A_{2g}$ symmetry. We also obtain excitons of symmetries $B_{1g}$ and $E_u$, and eventually $A_{1g}$, which can be explained within a one-band model. The results agree with observed optical absorption and Raman excitations. 
M.E. Sim\'on, A.A. Aligia, C.D. Batista, E. R.Gagliano, and F. Lema