112,549 research outputs found
Scaling and universality of critical fluctuations in granular gases
The global energy fluctuations of a low density gas granular gas in the
homogeneous cooling state near its clustering instability are studied by means
of molecular dynamics simulations. The relative dispersion of the fluctuations
is shown to exhibit a power-law divergent behavior. Moreover, the probability
distribution of the fluctuations presents data collapse as the system
approaches the instability, for different values of the inelasticity. The
function describing the collapse turns out to be the same as the one found in
several molecular equilibrium and non-equilibrium systems, except for the
change in the sign of the fluctuations
Fluctuations of water near extended hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces
We use molecular dynamics simulations of the SPC-E model of liquid water to
derive probability distributions for water density fluctuations in probe
volumes of different shapes and sizes, both in the bulk as well as near
hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces. To obtain our results, we introduce a
biased sampling of coarse-grained densities, which in turn biases the actual
solvent density. The technique is easily combined with molecular dynamics
integration algorithms. Our principal result is that the probability for
density fluctuations of water near a hydrophobic surface, with or without
surface-water attractions, is akin to density fluctuations at the water-vapor
interface. Specifically, the probability of density depletion near the surface
is significantly larger than that in bulk. In contrast, we find that the
statistics of water density fluctuations near a model hydrophilic surface are
similar to that in the bulk
Investigation of Structural Dynamics of Enzymes and Protonation States of Substrates Using Computational Tools.
This review discusses the use of molecular modeling tools, together with existing experimental findings, to provide a complete atomic-level description of enzyme dynamics and function. We focus on functionally relevant conformational dynamics of enzymes and the protonation states of substrates. The conformational fluctuations of enzymes usually play a crucial role in substrate recognition and catalysis. Protein dynamics can be altered by a tiny change in a molecular system such as different protonation states of various intermediates or by a significant perturbation such as a ligand association. Here we review recent advances in applying atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate allosteric and network regulation of tryptophan synthase (TRPS) and protonation states of its intermediates and catalysis. In addition, we review studies using quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methods to investigate the protonation states of catalytic residues of β-Ketoacyl ACP synthase I (KasA). We also discuss modeling of large-scale protein motions for HIV-1 protease with coarse-grained Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations
Simulation of quantum zero-point effects in water using a frequency-dependent thermostat
Molecules like water have vibrational modes with a zero-point energy well
above room temperature. As a consequence, classical molecular dynamics
simulations of their liquids largely underestimate the energy of modes with a
higher zero-point temperature, which translates into an underestimation of
covalent interatomic distances due to anharmonic effects. Zero-point effects
can be recovered using path integral molecular dynamics simulations, but these
are computationally expensive, making their combination with ab initio
molecular dynamics simulations a challenge. As an alternative to path integral
methods, from a computationally simple perspective, one would envision the
design of a thermostat capable of equilibrating and maintaining the different
vibrational modes at their corresponding zero-point temperatures. Recently,
Ceriotti et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 020601 (2009)) introduced a framework to
use a custom-tailored Langevin equation with correlated noise that can be used
to include quantum fluctuations in classical molecular dynamics simulations.
Here we show that it is possible to use the generalized Langevin equation with
suppressed noise in combination with Nose-Hoover thermostats to efficiently
impose a zero-point temperature on independent modes in liquid water. Using our
simple and inexpensive method, we achieve excellent agreement for all atomic
pair correlation functions compared to the path integral molecular dynamics
simulation.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figs, Published versio
Neutrino Scattering in Heterogeneous Supernova Plasmas
Neutrinos in core collapse supernovae are likely trapped by neutrino-nucleus
elastic scattering. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we calculate neutrino
mean free paths and ion-ion correlation functions for heterogeneous plasmas.
Mean free paths are systematically shorter in plasmas containing a mixture of
ions compared to a plasma composed of a single ion species. This is because
neutrinos can scatter from concentration fluctuations. The dynamical response
function of a heterogeneous plasma is found to have an extra peak at low
energies describing the diffusion of concentration fluctuations. Our exact
molecular dynamics results for the static structure factor reduce to the Debye
Huckel approximation, but only in the limit of very low momentum transfers.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figure
Maintaining the equipartition theorem in small heterogeneous molecular dynamics ensembles
It has been reported recently that the equipartition theorem is violated in
molecular dynamics simulations with periodic boundary condition [Shirts et al,
J. Chem. Phys. 125, 164102 (2006)]. This effect is associated with the
conservation of the center of mass momentum. Here, we propose a fluctuating
center of mass molecular dynamics approach (FCMMD) to solve this problem. Using
the analogy to a system exchanging momentum with its surroundings, we work out
--and validate via simulations-- an expression for the rate at which
fluctuations shall be added to the system. The restoration of equipartition
within the FCMMD is then shown both at equilibrium as well as beyond
equilibrium in the linear response regime
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