English

A robust and memory-efficient transition state search method for complex energy landscapes

Computational Physics 2022-09-07 v1

Abstract

Locating transition states is crucial for investigating transition mechanisms in wide-ranging phenomena, from atomistic to macroscale systems. Existing methods, however, can struggle in problems with a large number of degrees of freedom, on-the-fly adaptive remeshing and coarse-graining, and energy landscapes that are locally flat or discontinuous. To resolve these challenges, we introduce a new double-ended method, the Binary-Image Transition State Search (BITSS). It uses just two states that converge to the transition state, resulting in a fast, flexible, and memory-efficient method. We also show it is more robust compared to existing bracketing methods that use only two states. We demonstrate its versatility by applying BITSS to three very different classes of problems: Lennard-Jones clusters, shell buckling, and multiphase phase-field models.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2209.02541,
  title  = {A robust and memory-efficient transition state search method for complex energy landscapes},
  author = {Samuel J. Avis and Jack R. Panter and Halim Kusumaatmaja},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2209.02541},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

The following article has been accepted by The Journal of Chemical Physics. After it is published, it will be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0102145

R2 v1 2026-06-28T00:48:34.430Z