Entropy phase dynamics

The entropy-dynamics method seeks maxima for the entropy of the electron density for N atoms in a crystal cell, when the Fourier amplitudes are fixed, but their phases are unknown. By analogy with molecular dynamics, the effective potential energy is the negative entropy V = -NS. The kinetic energy is proportional to the squared velocities of the electron densities at grid points in the map. It reduces to a sum of Fourier-mode rotor energies. Each rotor angle experiences a couple equal to the phase gradient of S, and local dynamical equilibrium yields a Boltzmann distribution of S. Discrete phase angles (e.g. signs) are treated as quantized rotor modes. The distributions depend on a popularity function of the entropy histogram. Trial calculations have been made of phase averages and correlations in a centrosymmetric projection of the membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin. The maximum-entropy solution and the correct solution do not always coincide.