A comparative study of molecular dynamics in Cartesian and in internal coordinates : dynamical instability in the latter caused by nonlinearity of the equations of motion

The stability of a general molecular dynamics (MD) integration scheme is examined for simulations in generalized (internal plus external) coordinates (GCs). An analytic expression is derived for the local error in energy during each integration time step. This shows that the explicit dependence of t...

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Veröffentlicht in:Journal of computational chemistry. - 1984. - 28(2007), 6 vom: 30. Apr., Seite 1107-18
1. Verfasser: Lee, Sang-Ho (VerfasserIn)
Weitere Verfasser: Palmo, Kim, Krimm, Samuel
Format: Aufsatz
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: 2007
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:Journal of computational chemistry
Schlagworte:Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Octanes Organic Chemicals octane X1RV0B2FJV
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:The stability of a general molecular dynamics (MD) integration scheme is examined for simulations in generalized (internal plus external) coordinates (GCs). An analytic expression is derived for the local error in energy during each integration time step. This shows that the explicit dependence of the mass-matrix on GCs, which makes the system's Lagrange equations of motion nonlinear, causes MD simulations in GCs to be less stable than those in Cartesian coordinates (CCs). In terms of CCs, the corresponding mass-matrix depends only on atomic masses and thus atomistic motion is subject to the linear Newton equations, which makes the system more stable. Also investigated are two MD methods in GCs that utilize nonzero elements of the vibrational spectroscopic B-matrices. One updates positions and velocities in GCs that are iteratively adjusted so as to conform to the velocity Verlet equivalent in GCs. The other updates positions in GCs and velocities in CCs that are adjusted to satisfy the internal constraints of the new constrained WIGGLE MD scheme. The proposed methods are applied to an isolated n-octane molecule and their performances are compared with those of several CCMD schemes. The simulation results are found to be consistent with the analytic stability analysis. Finally, a method is presented for computing nonzero elements of B-matrices for external rotations without imposing the Casimir-Eckart conditions
Beschreibung:Date Completed 12.06.2007
Date Revised 15.11.2012
published: Print
Citation Status MEDLINE
ISSN:1096-987X