No Arabic abstract
Semi-empirical quantum mechanical methods traditionally expand the electron density in a minimal, valence-only electron basis set. The minimal-basis approximation causes molecular polarization to be underestimated, and hence intermolecular interaction energies are also underestimated, especially for intermolecular interactions involving charged species. In this work, the third-order self-consistent charge density functional tight-binding method (DFTB3) is augmented with an auxiliary response density using the chemical-potential equalization (CPE) method and an empirical dispersion correction (D3). The parameters in the CPE and D3 models are fitted to high-level CCSD(T) reference interaction energies for a broad range of chemical species, as well as dipole moments calculated at the DFT level; the impact of including polarizabilities of molecules in the parameterization is also considered. Parameters for the elements H, C, N, O and S are presented. The RMSD interaction energy is improved from 6.07 kcal/mol to 1.49 kcal/mol for interactions with one charged specie, whereas the RMSD is improved from 5.60 kcal/mol to 1.73 for a set of 9 salt bridges, compared to uncorrected DFTB3. For large water clusters and complexes that are dominated by dispersion interactions, the already satisfactory performance of the DFTB3-D3 model is retained; polarizabilities of neutral molecules are also notably improved. Overall, the CPE extension of DFTB3-D3 provides a more balanced description of different types of non-covalent interactions than NDDO type of semi-empirical methods (e.g., PM6-D3H4) and PBE-D3 with modest basis sets.
The calculation of chemical potential has traditionally been a challenge in atomistic simulations. One of the most used approaches is Widoms insertion method in which the chemical potential is calculated by periodically attempting to insert an extra particle in the system. In dense systems this method fails since the insertion probability is very low. In this paper we show that in a homogeneous fluid the insertion probability can be increased using metadynamics. We test our method on a supercooled high density binary Lennard-Jones fluid. We find that we can obtain efficiently converged results even when Widoms method fails.
The numerical computation of chemical potential in dense, non-homogeneous fluids is a key problem in the study of confined fluids thermodynamics. To this day several methods have been proposed, however there is still need for a robust technique, capable of obtaining accurate estimates at large average densities. A widely established technique is the Widom insertion method, that computes the chemical potential by sampling the energy of insertion of a test particle. Non-homogeneity is accounted for by assigning a density dependent weight to the insertion points. However, in dense systems, the poor sampling of the insertion energy is a source of inefficiency, hampering a reliable convergence. We have recently presented a new technique for the chemical potential calculation in homogeneous fluids. This novel method enhances the sampling of the insertion energy via Well-Tempered Metadynamics, reaching accurate estimates at very large densities. In this paper we extend the technique to the case of non-homogeneous fluids. The method is successfully tested on a confined Lennard-Jones fluid. In particular we show that, thanks to the improved sampling, our technique does not suffer from a systematic error that affects the classic Widom method for non-homogeneous fluids, providing a precise and accurate result.
The relationship between the molecular structure and the formation of the NTB phase is still at an early stage of development. This is mainly related to molecular geometry, while the correlation between the NTB phase and the electronic structure is ambiguous. To explore the electronic effect on properties and stabilization of the NTB phase we investigated 2,3-difluoro-4,4-dipentyl-p-terphenyl dimers (DTC5Cn). We used IR polarized spectroscopy, which can at least in principle, bring information about the ordering in NTB phase. All dimers show a significant drop of the average value of the transition dipole moment d{mu}/dQ for parallel dipoles at the transition to the NTB phase, and an increase for perpendicular dipoles, despite its remaining unchanged for the monomer. These results coincide well with DFT simulations of vibrational dipole derivatives for molecules assembled in pseudo-layers of the NTB phase. The DFT calculations were used to determine the geometric and electronic properties of the hydrogen bonded complexes. We have provided experimental and theoretical evidence of stabilization of the NTB phase by arrays of multiple hydrogen bonds (XF...HX, X-benzene ring).
For the prototypical diatomic-molecule - diatomic molecule interactions H2-HX and H2-X2, where X = F, Cl, Br, quantum-chemical ab initio calculations are carried out on grids of the configuration space, which permit a spherical-harmonics representation of the potential energy surfaces (PESs). Dimer geometries are considered for sets of representative leading configurations, and the PESs are analyzed in terms of isotropic and anisotropic contributions. The leading configurations are individuated by selecting a minimal set of mutual orientations of molecules needed to build the spherical-harmonic expansion on geometrical and symmetry grounds. The terms of the PESs corresponding to repulsive and bonding dimer geometries and the averaged isotropic term, for each pair of interacting molecules, are compared with representations in terms of a potential function proposed by Pirani et al. (see Chem. Phys. Lett. 2004, 394, 37-44 and references therein). Connections of the involved parameters with molecular properties provide insight into the nature of the interactions.
The Polyakov loop extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model with imaginary chemical potential is studied. The model possesses the extended ${mathbb Z}_{3}$ symmetry that QCD does. Quantities invariant under the extended ${mathbb Z}_{3}$ symmetry, such as the partition function, the chiral condensate and the modified Polyakov loop, have the Roberge-Weiss (RW) periodicity. The phase diagram of confinement/deconfinement transition derived with the PNJL model is consistent with the RW prediction on it and the results of lattice QCD. The phase diagram of chiral transition is also presented by the PNJL model.