National Institute of Technology Rourkela

राष्ट्रीय प्रौद्योगिकी संस्थान राउरकेला

ଜାତୀୟ ପ୍ରଯୁକ୍ତି ପ୍ରତିଷ୍ଠାନ ରାଉରକେଲା

An Institute of National Importance

Syllabus

Course Details

Subject {L-T-P / C} : PH6124 : Classical Molecular Simulations { 3-0-0 / 3}

Subject Nature : Theory

Coordinator : Prof. Mithun Biswas

Syllabus

- Classical dynamics: Phase spaces and the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations, the Liouville equation and equilibrium solutions, classical time evolution operator and numerical integrators, force field, molecular dynamics
- Thermodynamics of real gases and liquids: radial distribution function, Mayer f-function
- Dynamics on free energy surface: Non-equilibrium free energy methods, Jarzynski's and Crook's theorems, equilibrium free energy methods, free energy perturbation, thermodynamic integration
- Monte Carlo simulation: Importance sampling, Markov models, parallel tempering
- Stochastic dynamics: Derivation of generalized Langevin dynamics for model systems, fluctuation-dissipation theorem, memoryless Langevin and Brownian dynamics, probability distributions and Fokker-Planck equations

Course Objectives

  • Understanding the basics of molecular simulations.
  • Viewing molecular events as dynamics on the free energy landscape.
  • Recovering kinetics of molecular reactions.

Course Outcomes

To gain expertise in application of statistical mechanics to molecular systems

Essential Reading

  • H.J.C. Berendsen, Simulating the Physical World, Cambridge University Press
  • M.P. Allen, D.J. Tildesley, Computer Simulation of Liquids, Oxford University Press

Supplementary Reading

  • Mark E. Tuckerman, Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Molecular Simulation, Oxford University Press
  • D. Frenkel, B. Smit, Understanding Molecular Simulations: From Algorithms to Applications, Academic Press