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| This is part of the crystallization module | |
| It is only available if you configure PLUMED with ./configure –enable-modules=crystallization . Furthermore, this feature is still being developed so take care when using it and report any problems on the mailing list. |
Measure how similar the environment around atoms is to that found in a FCC structure.
This CV was introduced in this article [3] and again in this article [33] This CV essentially determines whether the environment around any given atom is similar to that found in the FCC structure or not. The function that is used to make this determination is as follows:
\[ s_i = \frac{ \sum_{i \ne j} \sigma(r_{ij}) \left\{ a\left[ \frac{(x_{ij}y_{ij})^4 + (x_{ij}z_{ij})^4 + (y_{ij}z_{ij})^4}{r_{ij}^8} - \frac{\alpha (x_{ij}y_{ij}z_{ij})^4}{r_{ij}^{12}} \right] + b \right\} }{ \sum_{i \ne j} \sigma(r_{ij}) } \]
In this expression \(x_{ij}\), \(y_{ij}\) and \(z_{ij}\) are the \(x\), \(y\) and \(z\) components of the vector connecting atom \(i\) to atom \(j\) and \(r_{ij}\) is the magnitude of this vector. \(\sigma(r_{ij})\) is a switchingfunction that acts on the distance between atom \(i\) and atom \(j\) and its inclusion in the numerator and the denominator of the above expression as well as the fact that we are summing over all of the other atoms in the system ensures that we are calculating an average of the function of \(x_{ij}\), \(y_{ij}\) and \(z_{ij}\) for the atoms in the first coordination sphere around atom \(i\). Lastly, \(\alpha\) is a parameter that can be set by the user, which by default is equal to three. The values of \(a\) and \(b\) are calculated from \(\alpha\) using:
\[ a = \frac{ 80080}{ 2717 + 16 \alpha} \qquad \textrm{and} \qquad b = \frac{ 16(\alpha - 143) }{2717 + 16\alpha} \]
This quantity is once again a multicolvar so you can compute it for multiple atoms using a single PLUMED action and then compute the average value for the atoms in your system, the number of atoms that have an \(s_i\) value that is more that some target and so on. Notice also that you can rotate the reference frame if you are using a non-standard unit cell.
When the label of this action is used as the input for a second you are not referring to a scalar quantity as you are in regular collective variables. The label is used to reference the full set of quantities calculated by the action. This is usual when using MultiColvar functions. Generally when doing this the previously calculated multicolvar will be referenced using the DATA keyword rather than ARG.
This Action can be used to calculate the following scalar quantities directly. These quantities are calculated by employing the keywords listed below. These quantities can then be referenced elsewhere in the input file by using this Action's label followed by a dot and the name of the quantity. Some amongst them can be calculated multiple times with different parameters. In this case the quantities calculated can be referenced elsewhere in the input by using the name of the quantity followed by a numerical identifier e.g. label.lessthan-1, label.lessthan-2 etc. When doing this and, for clarity we have made the label of the components customizable. As such by using the LABEL keyword in the description of the keyword input you can customize the component name
| Quantity | Keyword | Description |
| altmin | ALT_MIN | the minimum value. This is calculated using the formula described in the description of the keyword so as to make it continuous. |
| between | BETWEEN | the number/fraction of values within a certain range. This is calculated using one of the formula described in the description of the keyword so as to make it continuous. You can calculate this quantity multiple times using different parameters. |
| highest | HIGHEST | the lowest of the quantitities calculated by this action |
| lessthan | LESS_THAN | the number of values less than a target value. This is calculated using one of the formula described in the description of the keyword so as to make it continuous. You can calculate this quantity multiple times using different parameters. |
| lowest | LOWEST | the lowest of the quantitities calculated by this action |
| max | MAX | the maximum value. This is calculated using the formula described in the description of the keyword so as to make it continuous. |
| mean | MEAN | the mean value. The output component can be refererred to elsewhere in the input file by using the label.mean |
| min | MIN | the minimum value. This is calculated using the formula described in the description of the keyword so as to make it continuous. |
| moment | MOMENTS | the central moments of the distribution of values. The second moment would be referenced elsewhere in the input file using label.moment-2, the third as label.moment-3, etc. |
| morethan | MORE_THAN | the number of values more than a target value. This is calculated using one of the formula described in the description of the keyword so as to make it continuous. You can calculate this quantity multiple times using different parameters. |
| SPECIES | this keyword is used for colvars such as coordination number. In that context it specifies that plumed should calculate one coordination number for each of the atoms specified. Each of these coordination numbers specifies how many of the other specified atoms are within a certain cutoff of the central atom. You can specify the atoms here as another multicolvar action or using a MultiColvarFilter or ActionVolume action. When you do so the quantity is calculated for those atoms specified in the previous multicolvar. This is useful if you would like to calculate the Steinhardt parameter for those atoms that have a coordination number more than four for example |
| SPECIESA | this keyword is used for colvars such as the coordination number. In that context it species that plumed should calculate one coordination number for each of the atoms specified in SPECIESA. Each of these cooordination numbers specifies how many of the atoms specifies using SPECIESB is within the specified cutoff. As with the species keyword the input can also be specified using the label of another multicolvar |
| SPECIESB | this keyword is used for colvars such as the coordination number. It must appear with SPECIESA. For a full explanation see the documentation for that keyword |
| NN | ( default=6 ) The n parameter of the switching function |
| MM | ( default=0 ) The m parameter of the switching function; 0 implies 2*NN |
| D_0 | ( default=0.0 ) The d_0 parameter of the switching function |
| R_0 | The r_0 parameter of the switching function |
| PHI | ( default=0.0 ) The Euler rotational angle phi |
| THETA | ( default=0.0 ) The Euler rotational angle theta |
| PSI | ( default=0.0 ) The Euler rotational angle psi |
| ALPHA | ( default=3.0 ) The alpha parameter of the angular function |
| NUMERICAL_DERIVATIVES | ( default=off ) calculate the derivatives for these quantities numerically |
| NOPBC | ( default=off ) ignore the periodic boundary conditions when calculating distances |
| SERIAL | ( default=off ) do the calculation in serial. Do not parallelize |
| LOWMEM | ( default=off ) lower the memory requirements |
| TIMINGS | ( default=off ) output information on the timings of the various parts of the calculation |
| UNORMALIZED | ( default=off ) calculate the sum of the components of the vector rather than the mean |
| SWITCH | This keyword is used if you want to employ an alternative to the continuous swiching function defined above. The following provides information on the switchingfunction that are available. When this keyword is present you no longer need the NN, MM, D_0 and R_0 keywords. |
| MEAN | take the mean of these variables. The final value can be referenced using label.mean. You can use multiple instances of this keyword i.e. MEAN1, MEAN2, MEAN3... The corresponding values are then referenced using label.mean-1, label.mean-2, label.mean-3... |
| MORE_THAN | calculate the number of variables more than a certain target value. This quantity is calculated using \(\sum_i 1.0 - \sigma(s_i)\), where \(\sigma(s)\) is a switchingfunction. The final value can be referenced using label.morethan. You can use multiple instances of this keyword i.e. MORE_THAN1, MORE_THAN2, MORE_THAN3... The corresponding values are then referenced using label.morethan-1, label.morethan-2, label.morethan-3... |
| LESS_THAN | calculate the number of variables less than a certain target value. This quantity is calculated using \(\sum_i \sigma(s_i)\), where \(\sigma(s)\) is a switchingfunction. The final value can be referenced using label.lessthan. You can use multiple instances of this keyword i.e. LESS_THAN1, LESS_THAN2, LESS_THAN3... The corresponding values are then referenced using label.lessthan-1, label.lessthan-2, label.lessthan-3... |
| MAX | calculate the maximum value. To make this quantity continuous the maximum is calculated using \( \textrm{max} = \beta \log \sum_i \exp\left( \frac{s_i}{\beta}\right) \) The value of \(\beta\) in this function is specified using (BETA= \(\beta\)) The final value can be referenced using label.max. You can use multiple instances of this keyword i.e. MAX1, MAX2, MAX3... The corresponding values are then referenced using label.max-1, label.max-2, label.max-3... |
| MIN | calculate the minimum value. To make this quantity continuous the minimum is calculated using \( \textrm{min} = \frac{\beta}{ \log \sum_i \exp\left( \frac{\beta}{s_i} \right) } \) The value of \(\beta\) in this function is specified using (BETA= \(\beta\)) The final value can be referenced using label.min. You can use multiple instances of this keyword i.e. MIN1, MIN2, MIN3... The corresponding values are then referenced using label.min-1, label.min-2, label.min-3... |
| BETWEEN | calculate the number of values that are within a certain range. These quantities are calculated using kernel density estimation as described on histogrambead. The final value can be referenced using label.between. You can use multiple instances of this keyword i.e. BETWEEN1, BETWEEN2, BETWEEN3... The corresponding values are then referenced using label.between-1, label.between-2, label.between-3... |
| HISTOGRAM | calculate a discretized histogram of the distribution of values. This shortcut allows you to calculates NBIN quantites like BETWEEN. The final value can be referenced using label.histogram. You can use multiple instances of this keyword i.e. HISTOGRAM1, HISTOGRAM2, HISTOGRAM3... The corresponding values are then referenced using label.histogram-1, label.histogram-2, label.histogram-3... |
| MOMENTS | calculate the moments of the distribution of collective variables. The \(m\)th moment of a distribution is calculated using \(\frac{1}{N} \sum_{i=1}^N ( s_i - \overline{s} )^m \), where \(\overline{s}\) is the average for the distribution. The moments keyword takes a lists of integers as input or a range. Each integer is a value of \(m\). The final calculated values can be referenced using moment- \(m\). |
| ALT_MIN | calculate the minimum value. To make this quantity continuous the minimum is calculated using \( \textrm{min} = -\frac{1}{\beta} \log \sum_i \exp\left( -\beta s_i \right) \) The value of \(\beta\) in this function is specified using (BETA= \(\beta\)). The final value can be referenced using label.altmin. You can use multiple instances of this keyword i.e. ALT_MIN1, ALT_MIN2, ALT_MIN3... The corresponding values are then referenced using label.altmin-1, label.altmin-2, label.altmin-3... |
| LOWEST | this flag allows you to recover the lowest of these variables. The final value can be referenced using label.lowest |
| HIGHEST | this flag allows you to recover the highest of these variables. The final value can be referenced using label.highest |
The following input calculates the FCCUBIC parameter for the 64 atoms in the system and then calculates and prints the average value for this quantity.
FCCUBIC SPECIES=1-64 SWITCH={RATIONAL D_0=3.0 R_0=1.5} MEAN LABEL=d PRINT ARG=d.* FILE=colv
1.8.14