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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Analyzing Melts and Fluids from Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations with the UMD Package
Published on: September 17, 2021
Computer simulations of the restricted primitive model at very low temperature and density
Chantal Valeriani1, Philip J Camp, Jos W Zwanikken
1SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Edinburgh, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, UK. cvaleria@ph.ed.ac.uk
Abstract:
The problem of successfully simulating ionic fluids at low temperature and low density states is well known in the simulation literature: using conventional methods, the system is not able to equilibrate rapidly due to the presence of strongly associated cation-anion pairs. In this paper we present a numerical method for speeding up computer simulations of the restricted primitive model (RPM) at low temperatures (around the critical temperature) and at very low densities (down to 10(-10)σ(-3), where σ is the ion diameter). Experimentally, this regime corresponds to typical concentrations of electrolytes in nonaqueous solvents. As far as we are aware, this is the first time that the RPM has been equilibrated at such extremely low concentrations. More generally, this method could be used to equilibrate other systems that form aggregates at low concentrations.
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