No Arabic abstract
We discuss the use of a Langevin equation with a colored (correlated) noise to perform constant-temperature molecular dynamics simulations. Since the equations of motion are linear in nature, it is easy to predict the response of a Hamiltonian system to such a thermostat and to tune at will the relaxation time of modes of different frequency. This allows one to optimize the time needed to thermalize the system and generate independent configurations. We show how this frequency-dependent response can be exploited to control the temperature of Car-Parrinello-like dynamics, keeping at low temperature the electronic degrees of freedom, without affecting the adiabatic separation from the vibrations of the ions.
We present a new and improved method for simultaneous control of temperature and pressure in molecular dynamics simulations with periodic boundary conditions. The thermostat-barostat equations are build on our previously developed stochastic thermostat, which has been shown to provide correct statistical configurational sampling for any time step that yields stable trajectories. Here, we extend the method and develop a set of discrete-time equations of motion for both particle dynamics and system volume in order to seek pressure control that is insensitive to the choice of the numerical time step. The resulting method is simple, practical, and efficient. The method is demonstrated through direct numerical simulations of two characteristic model systems - a one dimensional particle chain for which exact statistical results can be obtained and used as benchmarks, and a three dimensional system of Lennard-Jones interacting particles simulated in both solid and liquid phases. The results, which are compared against the method of Kolb & Dunweg, show that the new method behaves according to the objective, namely that acquired statistical averages and fluctuations of configurational measures are accurate and robust against the chosen time step applied to the simulation.
In the replica-exchange molecular dynamics method, where constant-temperature molecular dynamics simulations are performed in each replica, one usually rescales the momentum of each particle after replica exchange. This rescaling method had previously been worked out only for the Gaussian constraint method. In this letter, we present momentum rescaling formulae for four other commonly used constant-temperature algorithms, namely, Langevin dynamics, Andersen algorithm, Nos{e}-Hoover thermostat, and Nos{e}-Poincar{e} thermostat. The effectiveness of these rescaling methods is tested with a small biomolecular system, and it is shown that proper momentum rescaling is necessary to obtain correct results in the canonical ensemble.
Classical molecular dynamics simulations have recently become a standard tool for the study of electrochemical systems. State-of-the-art approaches represent the electrodes as perfect conductors, modelling their responses to the charge distribution of electrolytes via the so-called fluctuating charge model. These fluctuating charges are additional degrees of freedom that, in a Born-Oppenheimer spirit, adapt instantaneously to changes in the environment to keep each electrode at a constant potential. Here we show that this model can be treated in the framework of constrained molecular dynamics, leading to a symplectic and time-reversible algorithm for the evolution of all the degrees of freedom of the system. The computational cost and the accuracy of the new method are similar to current alternative implementations of the model. The advantage lies in the accuracy and long term stability guaranteed by the formal properties of the algorithm and in the possibility to systematically introduce additional kinematic conditions of arbitrary number and form. We illustrate the performance of the constrained dynamics approach by enforcing the electroneutrality of the electrodes in a simple capacitor consisting of two graphite electrodes separated by a slab of liquid water.
Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation based on Langevin equation has been widely used in the study of structural, thermal properties of matters in difference phases. Normally, the atomic dynamics are described by classical equations of motion and the effect of the environment is taken into account through the fluctuating and frictional forces. Generally, the nuclear quantum effects and their coupling to other degrees of freedom are difficult to include in an efficient way. This could be a serious limitation on its application to the study of dynamical properties of materials made from light elements, in the presence of external driving electrical or thermal fields. One example of such system is single molecular dynamics on metal surface, an important system that has received intense study in surface science. In this review, we summarize recent effort in extending the Langevin MD to include nuclear quantum effect and their coupling to flowing electrical current. We discuss its applications in the study of adsorbate dynamics on metal surface, current-induced dynamics in molecular junctions, and quantum thermal transport between different reservoirs.
We introduce a scheme for deriving an optimally-parametrised Langevin dynamics of few collective variables from data generated in molecular dynamics simulations. The drift and the position-dependent diffusion profiles governing the Langevin dynamics are expressed as explicit averages over the input trajectories. The proposed strategy is applicable to cases when the input trajectories are generated by subjecting the system to a external time-dependent force (as opposed to canonically-equilibrated trajectories). Secondly, it provides an explicit control on the statistical uncertainty of the drift and diffusion profiles. These features lend to the possibility of designing the external force driving the system so to maximize the accuracy of the drift and diffusions profile throughout the phase space of interest. Quantitative criteria are also provided to assess a posteriori the satisfiability of the requisites for applying the method, namely the Markovian character of the stochastic dynamics of the collective variables.