UniFFBench: evaluating universal machine learning force fields against experimental measurements

Universal machine learning force fields (UMLFFs) promise to revolutionize materials science by enabling rapid atomistic simulations across the periodic table. However, their evaluation has been limited to computational benchmarks that may not reflect real-world performance. Here we introduce UniFFBench, a comprehensive evaluation framework featuring the MinX dataset-a diverse collection of 1,500+ mineral systems spanning 85 elements, extreme thermodynamic conditions (0-5,000 K, 0-1,000 GPa) and structural complexity, including partial occupancy and disorder. This diversity, combined with experimental reference values for validation, enables assessment of UMLFF generalization across chemical space and conditions substantially beyond typical training scenarios. Our systematic evaluation of six state-of-the-art UMLFFs reveals a substantial 'reality gap': models achieving impressive performance on computational benchmarks often fail when confronted with experimental complexity. Even the best-performing models exhibit higher density prediction error than the threshold required for practical applications. We observe disconnects between simulation stability and mechanical property accuracy, with prediction errors correlating with training data representation rather than the modeling method.