The schedule

May 10, 9:00-11:30: Introduction + integrator exercise

May 10, 15:00-17:00: Force fields

May 11, 9:00-11:30: Tentative: Non-bonded interactions, ensembles

May 11, 13:30-16:00: Tentative: ensembles, water exercise

May 12, 9:00-11:30: Tentative: Complex models

May 12, 13:30-16:00: REMD lecture+exercise (Mark Abraham)

May 17, 9:00-11:30: Tentative: Sampling, free-energy calculations

May 17, 13:30-16:00: Tentative: Free-energy calculations, free-energy exercise

May 18, 9:00-11:30: Hybrid CPU/GPU acceleration (Szilard Pall)

May 18, 13:30-16:00: Systematic coarse graining, coarse graining exercise

Intended learning outcomes

After completion of the course, the student should be able to:

set up simulations of liquids, polymers and proteins
analyze structural and dynamic properties
assess the quality of sampling and be aware of methods to improve sampling
set up free energy calculations
apply systematic coarse-graining

Course main content

This course treats advanced molecular dynamics (MD) methodology for classical simulations of liquids, polymers and proteins. MD simulations provide atomistically detailed information on structural and dynamic quantities, but often at a high computational cost. As vibrations of atoms need to be captured, time steps are in the order of femtoseconds, whereas the time scales of interest are often in the microsecond to second range. This has three main implications. Efficient software and hardware is required, using for instance stream computing (on e.g. GPUs). You always need to carefully check the convergence of properties of interest. And if convergence can not be reached, you might need to use methods to improve sampling, such as free energy calculations and coarse-graining. These topic will be covered in lectures, reading of literature and computer labs.

Eligibility

Basic knowledge of statistical mechanics / thermodynamics

(the course includes a brief introduction to Molecular Dynamics and force fields)

Literature

D. Frenkel & B. Smit, Understanding Molecular Simulation
H.J.C. Berendsen, Simulating the Physical World
Selected articles

Examination

Based on a project using at least one advanced MD technique. You can choose the project, but your plan needs to be approved by the examiner. There is no deadline for handing in the project report, but I would advise not waiting more than a month, otherwise it might never happen.

Requirements for final grade

Computer Labs using the Gromacs simulation package
A report on your final project (of sufficient quality)

Offered by

SCI/Applied Physics

Contact

For information and registration, contact Berk Hess <hess@kth.se>

Examiner

Berk Hess <hess@kth.se>

FSK3523 VT21-1 Advanced Molecular Dynamics