Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “ab initio methods”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 631 records · Page 35

Elasticity of two-dimensional ferroelectrics across their paraelectric phase transformation

The mechanical behavior of two-dimensional (2D) materials across 2D phase changes is unknown, and the finite temperature (T) elasticity of paradigmatic SnSe monolayers—ferroelectric 2D materials turning paraelectric as their unit cell turns from a rectangle into a square—is described here in a progressive manner. To begin with, their zero–T total energy landscape gives way to (Boltzmann-like) averages from which the elastic behavior is determined. Furthermore, these estimates are complemented with results from the strain-fluctuation method, which employs the energy landscape or ab initio molecular dynamics data. All approaches capture the coalescence of elastic moduli < C 11 (T) > = < C 22 (T) > due to the structural transformation. The broad evolution and sudden changes of elastic parameters < C 11 (T) >, < C 22 (T) >, and < C 12 (T) > of these atomically thin phase-change membranes establishes a heretofore overlooked connection among 2D materials and soft matter.

2-dimensional systems↗

Deep potential molecular dynamics simulations of ion-enhanced etching of silicon by atomic chlorine

The continued development of plasma-assisted processing techniques requires a fundamental understanding of plasma-surface interactions. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been employed to complement experimental studies and better understand the properties of such systems. Recently, machine learning (ML) methods have enabled the development of ab initio-based interatomic potentials, which can be generalized to complex combinations of multiple atom types. In this work, we use ML potentials developed using the Deep Potential Molecular Dynamics (DeepMD) framework to provide a model of ion-enhanced etching of Si by Cl atoms. We demonstrate the importance of proper selection of the training data set to the accuracy of the DeepMD model and compare our results to MD results using empirical potentials, as well as to experimental measurements. Exposure of undoped Si at 300 K to thermal Cl atoms yields a steady-state Cl coverage of 1.25 monolayers, which is slightly lower than the value obtained in previous experimental studies. Predictions of Si etch yields by simultaneous Cl atom and Ar + ion impacts as a function of ion energy, neutral to ion flux ratio, and angle of incidence of the ions are in reasonably good agreement with classical MD results and experimental measurements. Finally, etch yields and SiCl x mixed layer thicknesses during simultaneous bombardment of the Si(100) surface by Cl atoms and Cl + ions are in good agreement with experimental data. In conclusion, the present work is a necessary condition for the extension of the DeepMD procedure to more complex systems of interest in plasma-surface interactions.

Artificial neural networks↗

The Anharmonic Force Field of Ethylene, C2H4, by Means of Accurate Ab Initio Calculations

The quartic force field of ethylene, C2H4, has been calculated ab initio using augmented coupled cluster, CCSD(T), methods and correlation consistent basis sets of spdf quality. For the C-12 isotopomers C2H4, C2H3D, H2CCD2, cis-C2H2D2, trans-C2H2D2, C2HD3, and C2D4, all fundamentals could be reproduced to better than 10 per centimeter, except for three cases of severe Fermi type 1 resonance. The problem with these three bands is identified as a systematic overestimate of the Kiij Fermi resonance constants by a factor of two or more; if this is corrected for, the predicted fundamentals come into excellent agreement with experiment. No such systematic overestimate is seen for Fermi type 2 resonances. Our computed harmonic frequencies suggest a thorough revision of the accepted experimentally derived values. Our computed and empirically corrected re geometry differs substantially from experimentally derived values: both the predicted rz geometry and the ground-state rotational constants are, however, in excellent agreement with experiment, suggesting revision of the older values. Anharmonicity constants agree well with experiment for stretches, but differ substantially for stretch-bend interaction constants, due to equality constraints in the experimental analysis that do not hold. Improved criteria for detecting Fermi and Coriolis resonances are proposed and found to work well, contrary to the established method based on harmonic frequency differences that fails to detect several important resonances for C2H4 and its isotopomers. Surprisingly good results are obtained with a small spd basis at the CCSD(T) level. The well-documented strong basis set effect on the v8 out-of-plane motion is present to a much lesser extent when correlation-optimized polarization functions are used. Complete sets of anharmonic, rovibrational coupling, and centrifugal distortion constants for the isotopomers are available as supplementary material to the paper.

Martin, Jan M. L.↗

Plane-Wave DFT Methods for Chemistry

A detailed description of modern plane-wave DFT methods and software (contained in the NWChem package) are described that allow for both geometry optimization and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Significant emphasis is placed on aspects of these methods that are of interest to computational chemists and useful for simulating chemistry, including techniques for calculating charged systems, exact exchange (i.e. hybrid DFT methods), and highly efficient AIMD/MM methods. Sample applications on the structure of the goethite+water interface and the hydrolysis of nitroaromatic molecules are described.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗

Fast and Accurate Predictions of Total Energy for Solid Solution Alloys with Graph Convolutional Neural Networks

We use graph convolutional neural networks (GCNNs) to produce fast and accurate predictions of the total energy of solid solution binary alloys. GCNNs allow us to abstract the lattice structure of a solid material as a graph, whereby atoms are modeled as nodes and metallic bonds as edges. This representation naturally incorporates information about the structure of the material, thereby eliminating the need for computationally expensive data pre-processing which would be required with standard neural network (NN) approaches. We train GCNNs on ab-initio density functional theory (DFT) for copper-gold (CuAu) and iron-platinum (FePt) data that has been generated by running the LSMS-3 code, which implements a locally self-consistent multiple scattering method, on OLCF supercomputers Titan and Summit. GCNN outperforms the ab-initio DFT simulation by orders of magnitude in terms of computational time to produce the estimate of the total energy for a given atomic configuration of the lattice structure. We compare the predictive performance of GCNN models against a standard NN such as dense feedforward multi-layer perceptron (MLP) by using the root-mean-squared errors to quantify the predictive quality of the deep learning (DL) models. We find that the attainable accuracy of GCNNs is at least an order of magnitude better than that of the MLP.

Lupo Pasini, Massimiliano↗

Molecular structure determination: Equilibrium structure of pyrimidine (m-C 4 H 4 N 2 ) from rotational spectroscopy (reSE) and high-level ab initio calculation (re) agree within the uncertainty of experimental measurement

The pure rotational spectrum of pyrimidine (m-C 4 H 4 N 2 ), the meta-substituted dinitrogen analog of benzene, has been studied in the millimeter-wave region from 235 GHz to 360 GHz. The rotational spectrum of the ground vibrational state has been assigned and fit to yield accurate rotational and distortion constants. Over 1700 distinct transitions were identified for the normal isotopologue in its ground vibrational state and least-squares fit to a partial sextic S-reduced Hamiltonian. Transitions for all four singly substituted 13 C and 15 N isotopologues were observed at natural abundance and were likewise fit. Deuterium-enriched samples of pyrimidine were synthesized, giving access to all eleven possible deuterium-substituted isotopologues, ten of which were previously unreported. Experimental values of rotational constants and computed values of vibration–rotation interaction constants and electron-mass corrections were used to determine semi-experimental equilibrium structures (r e SE ) of pyrimidine. The r e SE structure obtained using coupled-cluster with single, double, and perturbative triple excitations [CCSD(T)] corrections shows exceptional agreement with the re structure computed at the CCSD(T)/cc-pCV5Z level (≤0.0002 Å in bond distance and ≤0.03° in bond angle). Of the various computational methods examined, CCSD(T)/cc-pCV5Z is the only method for which the computed value of each geometric parameter lies within the statistical experimental uncertainty (2σ) of the corresponding semi-experimental coordinate. The exceptionally high accuracy and precision of the structure determination is a consequence of the large number of isotopologues measured, the precision and extent of the experimental frequency measurements, and the sophisticated theoretical treatment of the effects of vibration–rotation coupling and electron mass. Taken together, these demanding experimental and computational studies establish the capabilities of modern structural analysis for a prototypical monocyclic aromatic compound.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Fragment-based {sup 13}C nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shift predictions in molecular crystals: An alternative to planewave methods

We assess the quality of fragment-based ab initio isotropic {sup 13}C chemical shift predictions for a collection of 25 molecular crystals with eight different density functionals. We explore the relative performance of cluster, two-body fragment, combined cluster/fragment, and the planewave gauge-including projector augmented wave (GIPAW) models relative to experiment. When electrostatic embedding is employed to capture many-body polarization effects, the simple and computationally inexpensive two-body fragment model predicts both isotropic {sup 13}C chemical shifts and the chemical shielding tensors as well as both cluster models and the GIPAW approach. Unlike the GIPAW approach, hybrid density functionals can be used readily in a fragment model, and all four hybrid functionals tested here (PBE0, B3LYP, B3PW91, and B97-2) predict chemical shifts in noticeably better agreement with experiment than the four generalized gradient approximation (GGA) functionals considered (PBE, OPBE, BLYP, and BP86). A set of recommended linear regression parameters for mapping between calculated chemical shieldings and observed chemical shifts are provided based on these benchmark calculations. Statistical cross-validation procedures are used to demonstrate the robustness of these fits.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Electron-phonon coupling strength from ab initio frozen-phonon approach

In this work, we propose a fast method for high-throughput screening of potential superconducting materials. The method is based on calculating metallic screening of zone-center phonon modes, which provides an accurate estimate for the electron-phonon coupling strength. This method is complementary to the recently proposed Rigid Muffin Tin (RMT) method, which amounts to integrating the electronphonon coupling over the entire Brillouin zone (as opposed to the zone center), but in a relatively inferior approximation. We illustrate the use of this method by applying it to MgB 2 , where the high-temperature superconductivity is known to be driven largely by the zone-center modes, and compare it to a sister compound AlB 2 . We further illustrate the usage of this descriptor by screening a large number of binary hydrides, for which accurate first-principle calculations of electron-phonon coupling have been recently published. Together with the RMT descriptor, this method opens a way to perform initial high-throughput screening in search of conventional superconductors via machine learning or data mining.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Accelerating Ab Initio Simulation via Nested Monte Carlo and Machine Learned Reference Potentials

As a corollary of the rapid advances in computing, ab initio simulation is playing an increasingly important role in modeling materials at the atomic scale. Two strategies are possible, ab initio Monte Carlo (AIMC) and molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulation. The former benefits from exact sampling from the correct thermodynamic distribution, while the latter is typically more efficient with its collective all-atom coordinate updates. In this study, using a relatively simple test model comprised of helium and argon, we show that AIMC can be brought up to, and even above, the performance levels of AIMD via a hybrid nested sampling/machine learning (ML) strategy. Here, ML provides an accurate classical reference potential (up to three-body explicit interactions) that can pilot long collective Monte Carlo moves that are accepted or rejected in toto à la nested Monte Carlo (NMC); this is in contrast to the single move nature of a naive implementation. Our proposed method only requires a small up front expense from evaluating the ab initio energies and forces of (100) random configurations for training. Importantly, our method does not totally rely on the trained, assuredly imperfect, interaction. We show that high performance and exact sampling at the desired level of theory can be realized even when the trained interaction has appreciable differences from the ab initio potential. Remarkably, at the highest levels of performance realized via our approach, a pair of statistically uncorrelated atomic configurations can be generated with (1) ab initio calculations.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Communication: Towards ab initio self-energy embedding theory in quantum chemistry

The self-energy embedding theory (SEET), in which the active space self-energy is embedded in the self-energy obtained from a perturbative method treating the non-local correlation effects, was recently developed in our group. In SEET, the double counting problem does not appear and the accuracy can be improved either by increasing the perturbation order or by enlarging the active space. This method was first calibrated for the 2D Hubbard lattice showing promising results. In this paper, we report an extension of SEET to quantum chemical ab initio Hamiltonians for applications to molecular systems. The self-consistent second-order Green’s function method is used to describe the non-local correlations, while the full configuration interaction method is carried out to capture strong correlation within the active space. Using few proof-of-concept examples, we show that SEET yields results of comparable quality to n-electron valence state second-order perturbation theory with the same active space, and furthermore, the full active space can be split into smaller active spaces without further implementation. Moreover, SEET avoids intruder states and does not require any high-order reduced density matrices. These advantages show that SEET is a promising method to describe physical and chemical properties of challenging molecules requiring large active spaces.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Quantum free energy landscapes from ab initio path integral metadynamics: Double proton transfer in the formic acid dimer is concerted but not correlated

With the goal of computing quantum free energy landscapes of reactive (bio)chemical systems in multi-dimensional space, we combine the metadynamics technique for sampling potential energy surfaces with the ab initio path integral approach to treating nuclear quantum motion. This unified method is applied to the double proton transfer process in the formic acid dimer (FAD), in order to study the nuclear quantum effects at finite temperatures without imposing a one-dimensional reaction coordinate or reducing the dimensionality. Importantly, the ab initio path integral metadynamics technique allows one to treat the hydrogen bonds and concomitant proton transfers in FAD strictly independently and thus provides direct access to the much discussed issue of whether the double proton transfer proceeds via a stepwise or concerted mechanism. The quantum free energy landscape we compute for this H-bonded molecular complex reveals that the two protons move in a concerted fashion from initial to product state, yet world-line analysis of the quantum correlations demonstrates that the protons are as quantum-uncorrelated at the transition state as they are when close to the equilibrium structure.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Quantifying uncertainties due to irreducible three-body forces in deuteron-nucleus reactions

Deuteron-induced nuclear reactions are an essential tool for probing the structure of nuclei as well as astrophysical information such as (n, γ) cross sections. The deuteron-nucleus system is typically described within a Faddeev three-body model consisting of a neutron (n), a proton (p), and the target nucleus (A) interacting through pairwise phenomenological potentials. While Faddeev techniques enable the exact description of the three-body dynamics, their predictive power is limited in part by the omission of irreducible neutron-proton-nucleus three-body force (n–p–A 3BF). Here, our goal is to quantify systematic uncertainties stemming from the reduction of deuteron-nucleus (d + A) dynamics to a picture of three pointlike nuclear clusters interacting via pairwise nucleon-nucleus forces, using as testing grounds d + α scattering and the 6 Li ground state. We particularly focus on quantifying uncertainties arising from the full antisymmetrization of the (A + 2)-body system with the target nucleus fixed in its ground state. We adopt the ab initio no-core shell model coupled with the resonating group method (NCSM/RGM) to compute microscopic n–α and p–α interactions, and use them in a three-body description of the d + α system by means of momentum-space Faddeev-type equations. Simultaneously, we also carry out ab initio calculations of d + α scattering and 6 Li ground state by means of six-body NCSM/RGM calculations to serve as a benchmark for the three-body model predictions given by the Faddeev calculations. By comparing the Faddeev and NCSM/RGM results, we show that the irreducible n–p–α 3BF has a non-negligible effect on bound state and scattering observables alike. Specifically, the Faddeev approach yields a 6 Li ground state that is approximately 600 keV shallower than the one obtained with the NCSM/RGM. Additionally, the Faddeev calculations for d + α scattering yield a 3 + resonance that is located approximately 400 keV higher in energy compared to the NCSM/RGM result. The shape of the d + α angular distributions computed using the two approaches also differ, owing to the discrepancy in the predictions of the 3 + resonance energy. The Faddeev three-body model predictions for d + α scattering and 6 Li using microscopic n–α and p–α potentials differ from those computed microscopically with the NCSM/RGM. These discrepancies are due to the n–p–α 3BF, which arises from two-nucleon exchange terms in the microscopic d–α interaction and are not accounted for in the three-body model Faddeev calculations. This study lays the foundation for future parametrizations of the 3BF due to Pauli exclusion principle effects in improved three-body calculations of deuteron-induced reactions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

How well do one-electron self-interaction-correction methods perform for systems with fractional electrons?

Recently developed locally scaled self-interaction correction (LSIC) is a one-electron SIC method that, when used with a ratio of kinetic energy densities (z σ ) as iso-orbital indicator, performs remarkably well for both thermochemical properties as well as for barrier heights overcoming the paradoxical behavior of the well-known Perdew–Zunger self-interaction correction (PZSIC) method. In this work, we examine how well the LSIC method performs for the delocalization error. Our results show that both LSIC and PZSIC methods correctly describe the dissociation of $H$$^{+}_{2}$ and $H$$^{+}_{2}$ but LSIC is overall more accurate than the PZSIC method. Likewise, in the case of the vertical ionization energy of an ensemble of isolated He atoms, the LSIC and PZSIC methods do not exhibit delocalization errors. For the fractional charges, both LSIC and PZSIC significantly reduce the deviation from linearity in the energy vs number of electrons curve, with PZSIC performing superior for C, Ne, and Ar atoms while for Kr they perform similarly. The LSIC performs well at the endpoints (integer occupations) while substantially reducing the deviation. The dissociation of LiF shows both LSIC and PZSIC dissociate into neutral Li and F but only LSIC exhibits charge transfer from Li + to F – at the expected distance from the experimental data and accurate ab initio data. Overall, both the PZSIC and LSIC methods reduce the delocalization errors substantially.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Corresponding Orbitals Derived from Periodic Bloch States for Electron Transfer Calculations of Transition Metal Oxides

An approach for modeling electron transfer in solids and at surfaces of iron - (oxy- hydr)oxides and other redox active solids has been developed for electronic structure methods (i.e., plane-wave DFT) capable of performing ab initio molecular dynamics eciently with periodic cells and large system sizes while at the same time being accurate enough to be used in the estimation of the electron-transfer coupling matrix element, VAB, and the electron transfer transmission factor, el. This method is an extension of the valence bond theory ET method for molecules and clusters, imple- mented by Dupuis and co-workers and used extensively by Rosso and co-workers, in which scaled corresponding orbitals derived from the Bloch states are used to calculate the o-diagonal matrix elements HAB and SAB. A key development of the present work is the formulation of algorithms to improve of the accuracy of integration of the exact exchange integral in periodic boundary conditions. This method is demonstrated on model systems for electron small polaron transfer in iron-(oxyhydr)oxides, including bare Fe2+{Fe3+ ions, and in [Fe3+(OH2)2(OH)2)]n+ n chains representing the common edge-sharing Fe octahedral motif in these materials.

Bylaska, Eric J.↗

Structure of the ordered hydration of amino acids in proteins: analysis of crystal structures

The hydration of protein crystal structures was studied at the level of individual amino acids. The dependence of the number of water molecules and their preferred spatial localization on various parameters, such as solvent accessibility, secondary structure and side-chain conformation, was determined. Crystallography provides unique information about the arrangement of water molecules near protein surfaces. Using a nonredundant set of 2818 protein crystal structures with a resolution of better than 1.8 Å, the extent and structure of the hydration shell of all 20 standard amino-acid residues were analyzed as function of the residue conformation, secondary structure and solvent accessibility. The results show how hydration depends on the amino-acid conformation and the environment in which it occurs. After conformational clustering of individual residues, the density distribution of water molecules was compiled and the preferred hydration sites were determined as maxima in the pseudo-electron-density representation of water distributions. Many hydration sites interact with both main-chain and side-chain amino-acid atoms, and several occurrences of hydration sites with less canonical contacts, such as carbon–donor hydrogen bonds, OH–π interactions and off-plane interactions with aromatic heteroatoms, are also reported. Information about the location and relative importance of the empirically determined preferred hydration sites in proteins has applications in improving the current methods of hydration-site prediction in molecular replacement, ab initio protein structure prediction and the set-up of molecular-dynamics simulations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Pressure-dependent kinetics of cyclopentene consumption

Recent experiments have uncovered deficiencies in the ability of current kinetic models for cyclopentane combustion to predict species profiles as a function of O2 concentration. One likely source of these discrepancies flows from the limited availability of relevant kinetic data for key functionalized intermediates, requiring the use of distant analogies to estimate their rates. This work fills this gap for cyclopentene, the most prominent C5 intermediate in low-temperature cyclopentane combustion. Ab initio transition-state-theory based master equation methods are used to calculate pressure-dependent rate constants across four potential energy surfaces (C5H8 + OH, C5H8 + HO2, C5H7, and C5H7 + O2). Potential energy surfaces are characterized at the CCSD(T)-F12/cc-pVDZ-F12//revDSD-PBEP86-D3BJ/def2-TZVPP level of theory. Pressure-dependent rate constants and branching fractions are determined via 1D master equation calculations. The results are used to analyze the competition for radicals between cyclopentene and cyclopentane in the intermediate temperature region, and to identify the dominant pathways flowing from these initiation channels. On the OH initiation surface, we find good agreement with recently published experimental rate constants at high temperature, and we elucidate the complex temperature dependence below 800 K, where 𝜋𝜋 addition becomes prominent. On the HO2 initiation surface, we find an interesting alternative route to bicyclic ether formation via well-skipping over the HO2 adduct well. On the cyclopentenyl radical surface, the major product is cyclopentadiene plus H. On the cyclopentenyl + O2 surface, we find that resonance stabilization largely prevents the allylic radical from undergoing oxidation, whereas the alkylic radical has a somewhat elevated propensity for oxidation pathways relative to cyclopentyl.

ab initio calculations↗

Optical spectra in the condensed phase: Capturing anharmonic and vibronic features using dynamic and static approaches

Simulating optical spectra in the condensed phase remains a challenge for theory due to the need to capture spectral signatures arising from anharmonicity and dynamical effects, such as vibronic progressions and their induced asymmetry. As such, numerous simulation methods have been developed that invoke different approximations and vary in their ability to capture different physical regimes. In this work, we use several models of chromophores in the condensed phase and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations to rigorously assess the applicability of methods to simulate optical absorption spectra. Specifically, we focus on the ensemble scheme, which can address anharmonic potential energy surfaces but relies on the applicability of extreme nuclear-electronic timescale separation; the Franck-Condon method, which includes dynamical effects but only at the harmonic level; as well as the recently introduced ensemble zero-temperature Franck-Condon approach, which straddles these limits. We also devote particular attention to the performance of methods derived from a cumulant expansion of the energy gap fluctuations and test the ability to approximate the requisite time correlation functions using classical dynamics with quantum correction factors. These results provide insights as to when these methods are applicable and able to capture the features of condensed phase spectra qualitatively and, in some cases, quantitatively across a range of regimes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

An assessment of low-lying excitation energies and triplet instabilities of organic molecules with an ab initio Bethe-Salpeter equation approach and the Tamm-Dancoff approximation

The accurate prediction of singlet and triplet excitation energies is an area of intense research of significant fundamental interest and critical for many applications. Most calculations of singlet and triplet energies use time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) in conjunction with an approximate exchange-correlation functional. In this work, we examine and critically assess an alternative method for predicting low-lying neutral excitations with similar computational cost, the ab initio Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE) approach, and compare results against high-accuracy wavefunction-based methods. We consider singlet and triplet excitations of 27 prototypical organic molecules, including members of Thiel’s set, the acene series, and several aromatic hydrocarbons exhibiting charge-transfer-like excitations. Analogous to its impact in TDDFT, we find that the Tamm-Dancoff approximation (TDA) overcomes triplet instabilities in the BSE approach, improving both triplet and singlet energetics relative to higher level theories. Lastly, we find that BSE-TDA calculations built on effective DFT starting points, such as those utilizing optimally tuned range-separated hybrid functionals, can yield accurate singlet and triplet excitation energies for gas-phase organic molecules.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗