Time-reversible Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics

We present a first principles molecular dynamics approach that is based on time-reversible ex- tended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics [Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 123004 (2008)] in the limit of vanishing self-consistent field optimization. The optimization-free dynamics keeps the computational cost to a minimum and typically provides molecular trajectories that closely follow the exact Born-Oppenheimer potential energy surface. Only one single diagonalization and Ham...

A Lagrangian generalization of time-reversible Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics [Niklasson et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. vol. 97, 123001 (2006)] is proposed. The Lagrangian includes extended electronic degrees of freedom as auxiliary dynamical variables in addition to the nuclear coordinates and momenta. While the nuclear degrees of freedom propagate on the Born-Oppenheimer potential energy surface, the extended auxiliary electronic degrees of freedom evolve as a harmonic oscil...

We analyze the time reversible Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (TRBOMD) scheme, which preserves the time reversibility of the Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics even with non-convergent self-consistent field iteration. In the linear response regime, we derive the stability condition as well as the accuracy of TRBOMD for computing physical properties such as the phonon frequency obtained from the molecular dynamic simulation. We connect and compare TRBOMD with the Car-Par...

We present an efficient general approach to first principles molecular dynamics simulations based on extended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics in the limit of vanishing self-consistent field optimization. The reduction of the optimization requirement reduces the computational cost to a minimum, but without causing any significant loss of accuracy or longterm energy drift. The optimization-free first principles molecular dynamics requires only one single diagonal...

This article proposes a so-called Quasi Time-Reversible (QTR G-Ext) scheme based on Grassmann extrapolation of density matrices for an accurate calculation of initial guesses in Born-Oppenheimer Molecular Dynamics simulations. The method shows excellent results on four large molecular systems, ranging from 21 to 94 atoms simulated with Kohn-Sham density functional theory surrounded with a classical environment with 6k to 16k atoms. Namely, it clearly reduces the number of sel...

A new "on the fly" method to perform Born-Oppenheimer ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) is presented. Inspired by Ehrenfest dynamics in time-dependent density functional theory, the electronic orbitals are evolved by a Schroedinger-like equation, where the orbital time derivative is multiplied by a parameter. This parameter controls the time scale of the fictitious electronic motion and speeds up the calculations with respect to standard Ehrenfest dynamics. In contrast to o...

Extended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics based on Kohn-Sham density functional theory is generalized in the limit of vanishing self-consistent field optimization prior to the force evaluations. The equations of motion are derived directly from the extended Lagrangian under the condition of an adiabatic separation between the nuclear and the electronic degrees of freedom. We show how this separation is automatically fulfilled and system independent. The generali...

Extended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics [Niklasson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 123004 (2008)] has been generalized to the propagation of the electronic wavefunctions. The technique allows highly efficient first principles molecular dynamics simulations using plane wave pseudopotential electronic structure methods that are stable and energy conserving also under incomplete and approximate self-consistency convergence. An implementation of the method within the planew...

A new algorithm for efficient and fully time-reversible integration of first-principles molecular dynamics based on orbital-free density functional theory (OFDFT) is presented. The algorithm adapts to this nontrivial case the recently introduced Mass-Zero (MaZe) constrained dynamics. The formalism ensures that full adiabatic separation is enforced between nuclear and electronic degrees of freedom and, consequently, that the exact Born-Oppenheimer probability for the nuclei is...

Born-Oppenheimer dynamics is shown to provide an accurate approximation of time-independent Schr\"odinger observables for a molecular system with an electron spectral gap, in the limit of large ratio of nuclei and electron masses, without assuming that the nuclei are localized to vanishing domains. The derivation, based on a Hamiltonian system interpretation of the Schr\"odinger equation and stability of the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi equation, bypasses the usual separatio...