A chain-of-states acceleration method for the efficient location of minimum energy paths

We describe a robust and efficient chain-of-states method for computing Minimum Energy Paths (MEPs) associated to barrier-crossing events in poly-atomic systems, which we call the acceleration method. The path is parametrized in terms of a continuous variable t ∈ [0, 1] that plays the role of time....

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Hernández, Eduardo R., Herrero, Carlos P., Soler Torroja, José María
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:España
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/675801
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/675801
https://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4935110
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Interpolation
Boundary value problems
Eigenvalues
Polymers
Carbon
Física
Descripción
Sumario:We describe a robust and efficient chain-of-states method for computing Minimum Energy Paths (MEPs) associated to barrier-crossing events in poly-atomic systems, which we call the acceleration method. The path is parametrized in terms of a continuous variable t ∈ [0, 1] that plays the role of time. In contrast to previous chain-of-states algorithms such as the nudged elastic band or string methods, where the positions of the states in the chain are taken as variational parameters in the search for the MEP, our strategy is to formulate the problem in terms of the second derivatives of the coordinates with respect to t, i.e., the state accelerations. We show this to result in a very simple and efficient method for determining the MEP. We describe the application of the method to a series of test cases, including two low-dimensional problems and the Stone-Wales transformation in C60