An analytical benchmark for MD codes: testing LAMMPS on the 2nd generation Brenner potential

An analytical benchmark is proposed for graphene and carbon nanotubes, that may serve to test whatsoever molecular dynamics code implemented with REBO potentials. By exploiting the benchmark, we checked results produced by LAMMPS (Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator) when adopting the second generation Brenner potential, we made evident that the code in its current implementation produces results which are offset from those of the benchmark by a significant amount, and provide evidence of the reason.