Related papers: Convergence of the Discrete Minimum Energy Path
In finite systems, such as nanoparticles and gas-phase molecules, calculations of minimum energy paths (MEPs) connecting initial and final states of transitions as well as searches for saddle points are complicated by the presence of…
Accurate determination of transition states is central to an understanding of reaction kinetics. Double-endpoint methods where both initial and final states are specified, such as the climbing image nudged elastic band (CI-NEB), identify…
The nudged elastic band (NEB) and Dimer methods are standard tools for computing minimum-energy paths and index-one saddle points in atomistic transition problems. They are increasingly driven by surrogate or learned force models, whose…
The free energy profile of a reaction can be estimated in a molecular-dynamics approach by imposing a mechanical constraint along a reaction coordinate (RC). Many recent studies have shown that the temperature can greatly influence the path…
Because inorganic solid electrolytes are one of the key components for application to all-solid-state batteries, high-ionic-conductivity materials must be developed. Therefore, we propose a method of efficiently evaluating the activation…
Mapping reaction pathways and transition states (TS) is fundamental to chemistry but computationally expensive at scale. The minimum energy pathway (MEP) dictates reaction rates and mechanisms, yet recovering it via electronic-structure…
We present a detailed analysis of the bounds on the integration step in Discrete Element Method (DEM) for simulating collisions and shearing of granular assemblies. We show that, in the numerical scheme, the upper limit for the integration…
Path optimization methods have been widely used and highly successful for the analysis of chemical reactions. Yet, they can fail to capture intrinsically multidimensional features of potential energy surfaces (PES). We introduce the nudged…
The wetting behavior of a liquid on solid substrates is governed by the nature of the effective interaction between the liquid-gas and the solid-liquid interfaces, which is described by the binding or wetting potential $g(h)$ which is an…
The modeling of solid-state transformations, such as polymorphic transitions and chemical reactions in molecular crystals, is vital for many applications including drug design or the development of new synthesis methods. However, a…
Minimum energy paths for transitions such as atomic and/or spin rearrangements in thermalized systems are the transition paths of largest statistical weight. Such paths are frequently calculated using the nudged elastic band method, where…
Popular methods for identifying transition paths between energy minima, such as the nudged elastic band and string methods, typically do not incorporate potential energy curvature information, leading to slow relaxation to the minimum…
Transition states and minimum energy paths are essential to understand and predict chemical reactivity. Double-ended methods represent a standard approach for their determination. We introduce a new double-ended method that optimizes…
We apply the minimum energy paths (MEPs) approach to study the helix unwinding transition in chiral nematic liquid crystals. A mechanism of the transition is determined by a MEP passing through a first order saddle point on the free energy…
The maximum entropy principle (MEP) apparently allows us to derive, or justify, fundamental results of equilibrium statistical mechanics. Because of this, a school of thought considers the MEP as a powerful and elegant way to make…
A method is presented for generating a good initial guess of a transition path between given initial and final states of a system without evaluation of the energy. An objective function surface is constructed using an interpolation of…
The nucleation of vapor bubbles within a superheated fluid is studied using density functional theory. The nudged elastic band technique is used to find the minimum energy pathway from the metastable uniform liquid to the stable uniform gas…
Entropy production (EP) is a key quantity in thermodynamics, and yet measuring EP has remained a challenging task. Here we introduce an EP estimator, called multidimensional entropic bound (MEB), utilizing an ensemble of trajectories…
We demonstrate that the straightforward application of the Nudged Elastic Band (NEB) method does not determine the correct Peierls barrier of 1/2<111> screw dislocations in BCC metals. Although this method guarantees that the states…
It has become clear in recent years that the configuration space of the nuclear Skyrme model has, in each topological class, many almost degenerate local energy minima and that the number of such minima grows with the degree (or baryon…