Keywords

Summary of all keywords

BondOrders
Type

Block

Description

Configures details regarding the calculation/guessing of bond orders. To request the calculation of bond orders, use the ‘Properties%BondOrders’ key.

Method
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

EngineWithGuessFallback

Options

[Engine, Guess, EngineWithGuessFallback]

Description

How to compute the bond orders when they are requested via the ‘Properties%BondOrders’ key. ‘Engine’: let the engine compute the bond orders. The specific method used to compute the bond orders depends on the engine selected, and it may be configurable in the engine’s input. Note: the calculation may stop if the engine cannot compute bond orders. ‘Guess’: Use a bond guessing algorithm based on the system’s geometry. This is the same algorithm that is used by the Graphical User Interface to guess bonds. ‘EngineWithGuessFallback’: let the engine compute the bond orders (same as in ‘Engine’ option) but if the engine did not produce any bond orders, use the bond guessing algorithm as a fallback opion.

Constraints
Type

Block

Description

The Constraints block allows geometry optimizations and potential energy surface scans with constraints. The constraints do not have to be satisfied at the start of the calculation.

All
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Fix multiple distances using one the following formats: All [bondOrder] bonds at1 at2 [to distance] All triangles at1 at2 at3 The first option constrains all bonds between atoms at1 at2 to a certain length, while the second - bonds at1-at2 and at2-at3 as well as the angle between them. The [bondOrder] can be a number or a string such as single, double, triple or aromatic. If it’s omitted then any bond between specified atoms will be constrained. Atom names are case-sensitive and they must be as they are in the Atoms block, or an asterisk ‘*’ denoting any atom. If the distance is omitted then the bond length from the initial geometry is used. Important: only the bonds present in the system at the start of the simulation can be constrained, which means that the bonds may need to be specified in the System block. Valid examples: All single bonds C C to 1.4 All bonds O H to 0.98 All bonds O H All bonds H * All triangles H * H

Angle
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Fix the angle between three atoms. Three atom indices followed by an angle in degrees.

Atom
Type

Integer

Recurring

True

Description

Fix the position of an atom. Just one integer referring to the index of the atom in the [System%Atoms] block.

AtomList
Type

Integer List

Recurring

True

Description

Fix positions of the specified atoms. A list of integers referring to indices of atoms in the [System%Atoms] block.

Block
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Name of the region to constrain as a rigid block. Regions are specified in the System%Atoms block.

BlockAtoms
Type

Integer List

Recurring

True

Description

List of atom indices for a block constraint, where the internal degrees of freedom are frozen.

Coordinate
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Fix a particular coordinate of an atom. Atom index followed by (x|y|z).

DifDist
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Four atom indices i j k l followed by the distance in Angstrom. This will constrain the difference R(ij)-R(kl) at the given value.

Dihedral
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Fix the dihedral angle between four atoms. Four atom indices followed by an angle in degrees.

Distance
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Fix the distance between two atoms. Two atom indices followed by the distance in Angstrom.

EqualStrain
Type

String

Description

Exclusively for lattice optimizations: Accepts a set of strain components [xx, xy, xz, yy, yz, zz] which are to be kept equal. The applied strain will be determined by the average of the corresponding stress tensors components. In AMSinput just check the corresponding check buttons.

FixedRegion
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Fix positions of all atoms in a region.

FreezeStrain
Type

String

Description

Exclusively for lattice optimizations: Freezes any lattice deformation corresponding to a particular component of the strain tensor. Accepts a set of strain components [xx, xy, xz, yy, yz, zz] to be frozen. In AMSinput just check the corresponding check buttons.

SumDist
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Four atom indices i j k l followed by the distance in Angstrom. This will constrain the sum R(ij)+R(kl) at the given value.

ElasticTensor
Type

Block

Description

Options for numerical evaluation of the elastic tensor.

ConvergenceQuality
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Good

Options

[Normal, Good, VeryGood]

GUI name

Convergence

Description

The tightness of the convergence of the geometry optimizations for each strain deformation. This should not be set higher than the overall convergence quality of the preceeding geometry optimization configured by the GeometryOptimization%Convergence%Quality keyword.

Parallel
Type

Block

Description

Options for double parallelization, which allows to split the available processor cores into groups working through all the available tasks in parallel, resulting in a better parallel performance. The keys in this block determine how to split the available processor cores into groups working in parallel.

nCoresPerGroup
Type

Integer

GUI name

Cores per group

Description

Number of cores in each working group.

nGroups
Type

Integer

GUI name

Number of groups

Description

Total number of processor groups. This is the number of tasks that will be executed in parallel.

nNodesPerGroup
Type

Integer

GUI name

Nodes per group

Description

Number of nodes in each group. This option should only be used on homogeneous compute clusters, where all used compute nodes have the same number of processor cores.

StrainStepSize
Type

Float

Default value

0.001

Description

Step size (relative) of strain deformations used for computing the elastic tensor numerically.

Engine
Type

Block

Description

The input for the computational engine. The header of the block determines the type of the engine.

EngineAddons
Type

Block

Description

This block configures all the engine add-ons.

AtomEnergies
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Add an element-dependent energy per atom. On each line, give the chemical element followed by the energy (in atomic units).

D3Dispersion
Type

Block

Description

This block configures the add-on that adds the Grimme D3 dispersion correction to the engine’s energy, gradients, and stress tensor.

Damping
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

BJ

Options

[BJ, Zero]

Description

Type of damping: BJ (Becke-Johnson) or Zero. BJ is recommended for most applications.

Enabled
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Enables the D3 dispersion correction addon.

Functional
Type

String

Default value

PBE

Description

Use the D3 parameterization by Grimme for a given xc-functional. Accepts the same values as the –func command line option of the official dftd3 program. Note: the naming convention is different from elsewhere in the AMS suite. For example, BLYP should be called b-lyp.

a1
Type

Float

Description

The a1 parameter. Only used if Damping is set to BJ. If set, it overwrites the a1 value for the chosen functional.

a2
Type

Float

Description

The a2 parameter. Only used if Damping is set to BJ. If set, it overwrites the a2 value for the chosen functional.

s6
Type

Float

Description

The s6 parameter, global scaling parameter. If set, it overwrites the s6 value for the chosen functional.

s8
Type

Float

Description

The s8 parameter. If set, it overwrites the s8 value for the chosen functional.

sr6
Type

Float

Description

The sr6 parameter. Only used if Damping is set to Zero. If set, it overwrites the sr6 value for the chosen functional.

D4Dispersion
Type

Block

Description

This block configures the addon that adds the Grimme D4(EEQ) dispersion correction to the engine’s energy, gradients, stress tensor and Hessian.

Enabled
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Enables the D4 dispersion correction addon.

Functional
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

PBE

Options

[HF, BLYP, BPBE, BP86, BPW, LB94, MPWLYP, MPWPW91, OLYP, OPBE, PBE, RPBE, REVPBE, PW86PBE, RPW86PBE, PW91, PW91P86, XLYP, B97, TPSS, REVTPSS, SCAN, B1LYP, B3LYP, BHLYP, B1P86, B3P86, B1PW91, B3PW91, O3LYP, REVPBE0, REVPBE38, PBE0, PWP1, PW1PW, MPW1PW91, MPW1LYP, PW6B95, TPSSH, TPSS0, X3LYP, M06L, M06, OMEGAB97, OMEGAB97X, CAM-B3LYP, LC-BLYP, LH07TSVWN, LH07SSVWN, LH12CTSSIRPW92, LH12CTSSIFPW92, LH14TCALPBE, B2PLYP, B2GPPLYP, MPW2PLYP, PWPB95, DSDBLYP, DSDPBE, DSDPBEB95, DSDPBEP86, DSDSVWN, DODBLYP, DODPBE, DODPBEB95, DODPBEP86, DODSVWN, PBE02, PBE0DH, DFTB(3ob), DFTB(mio), DFTB(pbc), DFTB(matsci), DFTB(ob2), B1B95, MPWB1K, REVTPSSH, GLYP, REVPBE0DH, REVTPSS0, REVDSDPBEP86, REVDSDPBEPBE, REVDSDBLYP, REVDODPBEP86, B97M, OMEGAB97M, R2SCAN]

Description

Use the D4 parameterization by Grimme for a given xc-functional.

Verbosity
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Silent

Options

[Silent, Normal, Verbose, VeryVerbose]

Description

Controls the verbosity of the dftd4 code. Equivalent to the –silent and –verbose command line switches of the official dftd4 program.

a1
Type

Float

Description

The a1 parameter, see D4 article. The physically reasonable range for a1 is [0.0,1.0]. If set, it overwrites the a1 value for the chosen functional.

a2
Type

Float

Description

The a2 parameter, see D4 article. The physically reasonable range for a2 is [0.0,7.0]. If set, it overwrites the a2 value for the chosen functional.

s6
Type

Float

Description

The s6 parameter, see D4 article. The physically reasonable range for s6 is [0.0,1.0]. If set, it overwrites the s6 value for the chosen functional.

s8
Type

Float

Description

The s8 parameter, see D4 article. The physically reasonable range for s8 is [0.0,3.0]. If set, it overwrites the s8 value for the chosen functional.

s9
Type

Float

Description

The s9 parameter, see D4 article. If set, it overwrites the s9 value for the chosen functional.

ExternalEngine
Type

Block

Description

External engine as an addon

Execute
Type

String

GUI name

Execute

Description

execute command

ExternalStress
Type

Block

Description

This block configures the addon that adds external stress term to the engine’s energy and stress tensor.

StressTensorVoigt
Type

Float List

Unit

a.u.

GUI name

External stress tensor

Description

The elements of the external stress tensor in Voigt notation. One should specify 6 numbers for 3D periodic system (order: xx,yy,zz,yz,xz,xy), 3 numbers for 2D periodic systems (order: xx,yy,xy) or 1 number for 1D periodic systems.

UpdateReferenceCell
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Whether ot not the reference cell should be updated every time the system changes (see documentation).

PipeEngine
Type

Block

Description

Pipe engine as an addon

WorkerCommand
Type

String

GUI name

Worker command

Description

pipe worker command

Pressure
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

GPa

Description

Add a hydrostatic pressure term to the engine’s energy and stress tensor. Can only be used for 3D periodic boundary conditions.

WallPotential
Type

Block

Description

This block configures the addon that adds a spherical wall potential to the engine’s energy and gradients.

Enabled
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Enables the wall potential addon. When enabled, a spherical wall of radius [Radius] around the origin will be added. The force due to the potential will decay exponentially inside the wall, will be close to [Prefactor*Gradient] outside and exactly half of that at the wall.

Gradient
Type

Float

Default value

10.0

Unit

1/Angstrom

Description

The radial gradient outside the sphere.

Prefactor
Type

Float

Default value

0.01

Unit

Hartree

Description

The multiplier for the overall strength of the potential.

Radius
Type

Float

Default value

30.0

Unit

Angstrom

Description

The radius of the sphere, wherein the potential is close to zero.

EngineDebugging
Type

Block

Description

This block contains some options useful for debugging the computational engines.

AlwaysClaimSuccess
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

If an engine fails, pretend that it worked. This can be useful when you know that an SCF might fail.

CheckInAndOutput
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Enables some additional checks on the input and output of an engine, e.g. for NaN values.

ForceContinousPES
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

If this option is set, the engine will always run in continuous PES mode. For many engines this disables the use of symmetry, as this one always leads to a discontinuous PES around the symmetric points: Basically there is jump in the PES at the point where the symmetry detection starts classifying the system as symmetric. Normally the continuous PES mode of the engine (often disabling the symmetry) is only used when doing numerical derivatives, but this flag forces the engine to continuously run in this mode.

IgnoreGradientsRequest
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

If this option is set, the engine will not do analytical gradients if asked for it, so that gradients will have to be evaluated numerically by AMS.

IgnorePreviousResults
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

If this option is set, the engine will not receive information from previous calculations. Typically this information is used to restart the self consistent procedure of the engine.

IgnoreStressTensorRequest
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

If this option is set, the engine will not calculate an analytical stress tensor if asked for it, so that the stress tensor will have to be evaluated numerically by AMS.

NeverQuiet
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Makes the engine ignore the request to work quietly.

RandomFailureChance
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Description

Makes the engine randomly report failures, even though the results are actually fine. Useful for testing error handling on the application level.

RandomNoiseInEnergy
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Hartree

Description

Adds a random noise to the energy returned by the engine. The random contribution is drawn from [-r,r] where r is the value of this keyword.

RandomNoiseInGradients
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Hartree/Angstrom

Description

Adds a random noise to the gradients returned by the engine. A random number in the range [-r,r] (where r is the value of this keyword) is drawn and added separately to each component of the gradient.

RandomStopChance
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Description

Makes the engine randomly stop. Can be used to simulate crashes.

EngineRestart
Type

String

Description

The path to the file from which to restart the engine. Should be a proper engine result file (like adf.rkf, band.rkf etc), or the name of the results directory containing it.

ExitCondition
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

If any of the specified exitconditions are met, the AMS driver will exit cleanly.

AtomsTooClose
Type

Block

Description

If any pair of atoms is closer than the specified minimum value, the program will exit cleanly.

MinimumDistance
Type

Float

Default value

0.7

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Two atoms closer than this threshold value are considered too close.

PairCalculation
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

NeighborList

Options

[NeighborList, DistanceMatrix]

Description

Two atoms closer than this threshold value are considered too close.

Type
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

AtomsTooClose

Options

[AtomsTooClose]

Description

The type of exitcondition specified

FallbackSolveAfterEngineFailure
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

If the engine fails to Solve, try to re-run the Solve without restarting the engine from the previous results. This generally decreases the engine falure rate. Only relevant certain tasks, such as GeometryOptimization, MolecularDynamics, Replay, IRC.

GCMC
Type

Block

Description

This block controls the Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) task. By default, molecules are added at random positions in the simulation box. The initial position is controlled by

AccessibleVolume
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Description

Volume available to GCMC, in cubic Angstroms. AccessibleVolume should be specified for “Accessible” and “FreeAccessible” [VolumeOption].

Box
Type

Block

Description

Boundaries of the insertion space, i.e. coordinates of the origin of an inserted molecule (coordinates of an atom of the inserted system may fall outside the box). For a periodic dimension it is given as a fraction of the simulation box (the full 0 to 1 range by default). For a non-periodic dimension it represents absolute Cartesian coordinates in Angstrom (the system’s bounding box extended by the MaxDistance value by default).

Amax
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the first axis.

Amin
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the first axis.

Bmax
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the second axis.

Bmin
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the second axis.

Cmax
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the third axis.

Cmin
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the third axis.

Ensemble
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Mu-VT

Options

[Mu-VT, Mu-PT]

Description

Select the MC ensemble: Mu-VT for fixed volume or Mu-PT for variable volume. When the Mu-PT ensemble is selected the [Pressure] and [VolumeChangeMax] should also be specified.

Iterations
Type

Integer

GUI name

Number of GCMC iterations

Description

Number of GCMC moves.

MapAtomsToOriginalCell
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Keeps the atom (mostly) in the original cell by mapping them back before the geometry optimizations.

MaxDistance
Type

Float

Default value

3.0

Unit

Angstrom

GUI name

Add molecules within

Description

The max distance to other atoms of the system when adding the molecule.

MinDistance
Type

Float

Default value

0.3

Unit

Angstrom

GUI name

Add molecules not closer than

Description

Keep the minimal distance to other atoms of the system when adding the molecule.

Molecule
Type

Block

Recurring

True

GUI name

Molecules

Description

This block defines the molecule (or atom) that can be inserted/moved/deleted with the MC method. The coordinates should form a reasonable structure. The MC code uses these coordinates during the insertion step by giving them a random rotation, followed by a random translation to generate a random position of the molecule inside the box. Currently, there is no check to make sure all atoms of the molecule stay inside the simulation box. The program does check that the MaxDistance/MinDistance conditions are satisfied.

ChemicalPotential
Type

Float

Unit

Hartree

Description

Chemical potential of the molecule (or atom) reservoir. It is used when calculating the Boltzmann accept/reject criteria after a MC move is executed. This value can be derived from first principles using statistical mechanics, or equivalently, it can be determined from thermochemical tables available in literature sources. For example, the proper chemical potential for a GCMC simulation in which single oxygen atoms are exchanged with a reservoir of O2 gas, should equal 1/2 the chemical potential of O2 at the temperature and pressure of the reservoir: cmpot = Mu_O(T,P) = 1/2*Mu_O2(T,P) = 1/2 * [Mu_ref(T,P_ref) + kT*Log(P/Pref) - E_diss] where the reference chemical potential [Mu_ref(T,P_ref)] is the experimentally determined chemical potential of O2 at T and Pref; kT*Log(P/Pref) is the pressure correction to the free energy, and E_diss is the dissociation energy of the O2 molecule.

NoAddRemove
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Fix molecule

Description

Set to True to tell the GCMC code to keep the number of molecules/atoms of this type fixed. It will thus disable Insert/Delete moves on this type, meaning it can only do a displacement move, or volume change move (for an NPT ensemble).

SystemName
Type

String

GUI name

Molecule

Description

String ID of a named [System] to be inserted. The lattice specified with this System, if any, is ignored and the main system’s lattice is used instead.

NonAccessibleVolume
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

GUI name

Non-accessible volume

Description

Volume not available to GCMC, in cubic Angstroms. NonAccessibleVolume may be specified for the “Free” [VolumeOption] to reduce the accessible volume.

NumAttempts
Type

Integer

Default value

1000

GUI name

Max tries

Description

Try inserting/moving the selected molecule up to the specified number of times or until all constraints are satisfied. If all attempts fail a message will be printed and the simulation will stop. If the MaxDistance-MinDistance interval is small this number may have to be large.

Pressure
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Pascal

Description

Pressure used to calculate the energy correction in the Mu-PT ensemble. Set it to zero for incompressible solid systems unless at very high pressures.

Removables
Type

Non-standard block

Description

The Removables can be used to specify a list of molecules that can be removed or moved during this GCMC calculation. Molecules are specified one per line in the format following format: MoleculeName atom1 atom2 … The MoleculeName must match a name specified in one of the [Molecule] blocks. The atom indices refer to the whole input System and the number of atoms must match that in the specified Molecule. A suitable Removables block is written to the standard output after each accepted MC move. If you do so then you should also replace the initial atomic coordinates with the ones found in the same file. If a [Restart] key is present then the Removables block is ignored.

Restart
Type

String

Description

Name of an RKF restart file. Upon restart, the information about the GCMC input parameters, the initial system (atomic coordinates, lattice, charge, etc.) and the MC molecules (both already inserted and to be inserted) are read from the restart file. The global GCMC input parameters and the MC Molecules can be modified from input. Any parameter not specified in the input will use its value from the restart file (i.e. not the default value). Molecules found in the restart file do not have to be present as named Systems in the input, however if there is a System present that matches the name of a molecule from restart then the System’s geometry will replace that found in the restart file. It is also possible to specify new Molecules in the input, which will be added to the pool of the MC molecules from restart.

SwapAtoms
Type

Block

Description

Experimental: Occasionally swap the coordinates of a random pair of atoms from two regions.

Probability
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Description

Probability of performing a swap move instead of any other GCMC move in a single GCMC iteration.

Regions
Type

String

Description

Names of two regions to swap between (separated by a space).

Temperature
Type

Float

Default value

300.0

Unit

Kelvin

Description

Temperature of the simulation. Increase the temperature to improve the chance of accepting steps that result in a higher energy.

UseGCPreFactor
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

GUI name

Use GC prefactor

Description

Use the GC pre-exponential factor for probability.

VolumeChangeMax
Type

Float

Default value

0.05

Description

Fractional value by which logarithm of the volume is allowed to change at each step. The new volume is then calculated as Vnew = exp(random(-1:1)*VolumeChangeMax)*Vold

VolumeOption
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Free

Options

[Free, Total, Accessible, FreeAccessible]

GUI name

Volume method

Description

Specifies the method to calculate the volume used to calculate the GC pre-exponential factor and the energy correction in the Mu-PT ensemble: Free: V = totalVolume - occupiedVolume - NonAccessibleVolume; Total: V = totalVolume; Accessible: V = AccessibleVolume; FreeAccessible: V = AccessibleVolume - occupiedVolume. The AccessibleVolume and NonAccessibleVolume are specified in the input, the occupiedVolume is calculated as a sum of atomic volumes.

GeometryOptimization
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of the geometry optimization and transition state searches.

CalcPropertiesOnlyIfConverged
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Compute the properties requested in the ‘Properties’ block, e.g. Frequencies or Phonons, only if the optimization (or transition state search) converged. If False, the properties will be computed even if the optimization did not converge.

Convergence
Type

Block

Description

Convergence is monitored for up to 4 quantities: the energy change, the Cartesian gradients, the Cartesian step size, and for lattice optimizations the stress energy per atom. Convergence criteria can be specified separately for each of these items.

Energy
Type

Float

Default value

1e-05

Unit

Hartree

GUI name

Energy convergence

Description

The criterion for changes in the energy. The energy is considered converged when the change in energy is smaller than this threshold times the number of atoms.

Gradients
Type

Float

Default value

0.001

Unit

Hartree/Angstrom

GUI name

Gradient convergence

Description

Threshold for nuclear gradients.

Quality
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Custom

Options

[VeryBasic, Basic, Normal, Good, VeryGood, Custom]

GUI name

Convergence

Description

A quick way to change convergence thresholds: ‘Good’ will reduce all thresholds by an order of magnitude from their default value. ‘VeryGood’ will tighten them by two orders of magnitude. ‘Basic’ and ‘VeryBasic’ will increase the thresholds by one or two orders of magnitude respectively.

Step
Type

Float

Default value

0.01

Unit

Angstrom

GUI name

Step convergence

Description

The maximum Cartesian step allowed for a converged geometry.

StressEnergyPerAtom
Type

Float

Default value

0.0005

Unit

Hartree

Description

Threshold used when optimizing the lattice vectors. The stress is considered ‘converged’ when the maximum value of stress_tensor * cell_volume / number_of_atoms is smaller than this threshold (for 2D and 1D systems, the cell_volume is replaced by the cell_area and cell_length respectively).

CoordinateType
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Auto

Options

[Auto, Delocalized, Cartesian]

GUI name

Optimization space

Description

Select the type of coordinates in which to perform the optimization. ‘Auto’ automatically selects the most appropriate CoordinateType for a given Method. If ‘Auto’ is selected, Delocalized coordinates will be used for the Quasi-Newton and SCMGO methods, while Cartesian coordinates will be used for all other methods.

EngineAutomations
Type

Block

Description

The optimizer can change some settings of the engine, based for instance on the error. The idea is to allow the engine to be a bit quicker at the start, and more accurate towards the end. Automations are always engine specific.

Enabled
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Whether or not autotions are enabled at all.

Gradient
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

A gradient-based automation.

FinalValue
Type

Float

Description

This value will be used whenever the gradient is less than GradientLow

HighGradient
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Unit

Hartree/Angstrom

Description

Defines a large gradient. When the actual gradient is between GradientHigh and GradientLow a linear interpolation scheme is used for kT (on a log scale).

InitialValue
Type

Float

Description

This value will be used at the first geometry, and whenever the gradient is higher than GradientHigh

LowGradient
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Unit

Hartree/Angstrom

Description

Defines a small gradient, see GradientHigh

UseLogInterpolation
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Whether to use interpolation on a log (y) scale or not

Variable
Type

String

Default value

Description

variable to be tweaked for the engine.

Iteration
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

Geometry step based automation.

FinalValue
Type

Float

Description

FirstIteration
Type

Integer

Default value

1

Description

When the actual gradient is between the first and last iteration, a linear interpolation is used.

InitialValue
Type

Float

Description

This value will be used when the iteration number is smaller or equal to FirstIteration

LastIteration
Type

Integer

Default value

10

Description

Where the automation should reach the FinalValue

UseLogInterpolation
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Whether to use interpolation on a log (y) scale or not

Variable
Type

String

Default value

Description

variable to be tweaked for the engine.

FIRE
Type

Block

Description

This block configures the details of the FIRE optimizer. The keywords name correspond the the symbols used in the article describing the method, see PRL 97, 170201 (2006).

AllowOverallRotation
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Whether or not the system is allowed to freely rotate during the optimization. This is relevant when optimizing structures in the presence of external fields.

AllowOverallTranslation
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Whether or not the system is allowed to translate during the optimization. This is relevant when optimizing structures in the presence of external fields.

MapAtomsToUnitCell
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Map the atoms to the central cell at each geometry step.

NMin
Type

Integer

Default value

5

Description

Number of steps after stopping before increasing the time step again.

alphaStart
Type

Float

Default value

0.1

Description

Steering coefficient.

dtMax
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Unit

Femtoseconds

Description

Maximum time step used for the integration. For ReaxFF and APPLE&P, this value is reduced by 50%.

dtStart
Type

Float

Default value

0.25

Unit

Femtoseconds

Description

Initial time step for the integration.

fAlpha
Type

Float

Default value

0.99

Description

Reduction factor for the steering coefficient.

fDec
Type

Float

Default value

0.5

Description

Reduction factor for reducing the time step in case of uphill movement.

fInc
Type

Float

Default value

1.1

Description

Growth factor for the integration time step.

strainMass
Type

Float

Default value

0.5

Description

Fictitious relative mass of the lattice degrees of freedom. This controls the stiffness of the lattice degrees of freedom relative to the atomic degrees of freedom, with smaller values resulting in a more aggressive optimization of the lattice.

HessianFree
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of the Hessian-free (conjugate gradients or L-BFGS) geometry optimizer.

Step
Type

Block

Description

MaxCartesianStep
Type

Float

Default value

0.1

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Limit on a single Cartesian component of the step.

MinRadius
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Minimum value for the trust radius.

TrialStep
Type

Float

Default value

0.0005

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Length of the finite-difference step when determining curvature. Should be smaller than the step convergence criterion.

TrustRadius
Type

Float

Default value

0.2

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Initial value of the trust radius.

InitialHessian
Type

Block

Description

Options for initial model Hessian when optimizing systems with either the Quasi-Newton or the SCMGO method.

File
Type

String

GUI name

Initial Hessian from

Description

KF file containing the initial Hessian (or the results dir. containing it). This can be used to load a Hessian calculated in a previously with the [Properties%Hessian] keyword.

Type
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Auto

Options

[Auto, UnitMatrix, Swart, FromFile, Calculate, CalculateWithFastEngine]

GUI name

Initial Hessian

Description

Select the type of initial Hessian. Auto: let the program pick an initial model Hessian. UnitMatrix: simplest initial model Hessian, just a unit matrix in the optimization coordinates. Swart: model Hessian from M. Swart. FromFile: load the Hessian from the results of a previous calculation (see InitialHessian%File). Calculate: compute the initial Hessian (this may be computationally expensive and it is mostly recommended for TransitionStateSearch calculations). CalculateWithFastEngine: compute the initial Hessian with a faster engine.

KeepIntermediateResults
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Whether the full engine result files of all intermediate steps are stored on disk. By default only the last step is kept, and only if the geometry optimization converged. This can easily lead to huge amounts of data being stored on disk, but it can sometimes be convenient to closely monitor a tricky optimization, e.g. excited state optimizations going through conical intersections, etc. …

MaxIterations
Type

Integer

GUI name

Maximum number of iterations

Description

The maximum number of geometry iterations allowed to converge to the desired structure.

MaxRestarts
Type

Integer

Default value

0

Description

If a geometry optimization of a system with no symmetry operators (or with explicitly disabled symmetry: UseSymmetry False) and enabled PES point characterization converges to a transition state (or higher order saddle point), it can be restarted automatically after a small displacement along the imaginary vibrational mode. In case the restarted optimization again does not find a minimum, this can happen multiple times in succession. This keyword sets the maximum number of restarts. The default value is 0, so the automatic restarting is disabled by default.

Method
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Auto

Options

[Auto, Quasi-Newton, SCMGO, FIRE, L-BFGS, ConjugateGradients]

GUI name

Optimization method

Description

Select the optimization algorithm employed for the geometry relaxation. Currently supported are: the Hessian-based Quasi-Newton-type BFGS algorithm, the experimental SCMGO optimizer, the fast inertial relaxation method (FIRE), the limited-memory BFGS method, and the conjugate gradients method. The default is to choose an appropriate method automatically based on the engine’s speed, the system size and the supported optimization options.

OptimizeLattice
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Whether to also optimize the lattice for periodic structures. This is currently only supported with the Quasi-Newton, FIRE, L-BFGS and SCMGO optimizers.

PretendConverged
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Normally a non-converged geometry optimization is considered an error. If this keyword is set to True, the optimizer will only produce a warning and still claim that the optimization is converged. (This is mostly useful for scripting applications, where one might want to consider non-converged optimizations still successful jobs.)

Quasi-Newton
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of the Quasi-Newton geometry optimizer.

MaxGDIISVectors
Type

Integer

Default value

0

Description

Sets the maximum number of GDIIS vectors. Setting this to a number >0 enables the GDIIS method.

Step
Type

Block

Description

TrustRadius
Type

Float

Description

Initial value of the trust radius.

VaryTrustRadius
Type

Bool

Description

Whether to allow the trust radius to change during optimization. By default True during energy minimization and False during transition state search.

UpdateTSVectorEveryStep
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

GUI name

Update TSRC vector every step

Description

Whether to update the TS reaction coordinate at each step with the current eigenvector.

RestartDisplacement
Type

Float

Default value

0.05

Unit

Angstrom

Description

If a geometry optimization of a system with no symmetry operators (or with explicitly disabled symmetry: UseSymmetry False) and enabled PES point characterization converges to a transition state (or higher order saddle point), it can be restarted automatically after a small displacement along the imaginary vibrational mode. This keywords sets the size of the displacement for the furthest moving atom.

SCMGO
Type

Block

Description

Configures details SCMGO.

ContractPrimitives
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Form non-redundant linear combinations of primitive coordinates sharing the same central atom

NumericalBMatrix
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Calculation of the B-matrix, i.e. Jacobian of internal coordinates in terms of numerical differentiations

Step
Type

Block

Description

TrustRadius
Type

Float

Default value

0.2

Description

Initial value of the trust radius.

VariableTrustRadius
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Whether or not the trust radius can be updated during the optimization.

logSCMGO
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Verbose output of SCMGO internal data

testSCMGO
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Run SCMGO in test mode.

IRC
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of the Intrinsic Reaction Coordinate optimization.

Convergence
Type

Block

Description

Convergence at each given point is monitored for two items: the Cartesian gradient and the calculated step size. Convergence criteria can be specified separately for each of these items. The same criteria are used both in the inner IRC loop and when performing energy minimization at the path ends.

Gradients
Type

Float

Default value

0.001

Unit

Hartree/Angstrom

GUI name

Gradient convergence

Description

Convergence criterion for the max component of the residual energy gradient.

Step
Type

Float

Default value

0.001

Unit

Angstrom

GUI name

Step convergence

Description

Convergence criterion for the max component of the step in the optimization coordinates.

CoordinateType
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Cartesian

Options

[Cartesian, Delocalized]

GUI name

Coordinates used for optimization

Description

Select the type of coordinates in which to perform the optimization. Note that the Delocalized option should be considered experimental.

Direction
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Both

Options

[Both, Forward, Backward]

Description

Select direction of the IRC path. The difference between the Forward and the Backward directions is determined by the sign of the largest component of the vibrational normal mode corresponding to the reaction coordinate at the transition state geometry. The Forward path correspond to the positive sign of the component. If Both is selected then first the Forward path is computed followed by the Backward one.

InitialHessian
Type

Block

Description

Options for initial Hessian at the transition state. The first eigenvalue of the initial Hessian defines direction of the first forward or backward step. This block is ignored when restarting from a previous IRC calculation because the initial Hessian found in the restart file is used.

File
Type

String

GUI name

File

Description

If ‘Type’ is set to ‘FromFile’ then in this key you should specify the RKF file containing the initial Hessian (or the ams results dir. containing it). This can be used to load a Hessian calculated previously with the ‘Properties%Hessian’ keyword. If you want to also use this file for the initial geometry then also specify it in a ‘LoadSystem’ block.

Type
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Calculate

Options

[Calculate, FromFile]

GUI name

Initial Hessian

Description

Calculate the exact Hessian for the input geometry or load it from the results of a previous calculation.

KeepConvergedResults
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Keep the binary RKF result file for every converged IRC point. These files may contain more information than the main ams.rkf result file.

MaxIRCSteps
Type

Integer

GUI name

Maximum IRC steps

Description

Soft limit on the number of IRC points to compute in each direction. After the specified number of IRC steps the program will switch to energy minimization and complete the path. This option should be used when you are interested only in the reaction path area near the transition state. Note that even if the soft limit has been hit and the calculation has completed, the IRC can still be restarted with a ‘RedoBackward’ or ‘RedoForward’ option.

MaxIterations
Type

Integer

Default value

300

GUI name

Maximum iterations

Description

The maximum number of geometry iterations allowed to converge the inner IRC loop. If optimization does not converge within the specified number of steps, the calculation is aborted.

MaxPoints
Type

Integer

Default value

100

GUI name

Maximum points

Description

Hard limit on the number of IRC points to compute in each direction. After the specified number of IRC steps the program will stop with the current direction and switch to the next one. If both ‘MaxPoints’ and ‘MaxIRCSteps’ are set to the same value then ‘MaxPoints’ takes precedence, therefore this option should be used to set a limit on the number of IRC steps if you intend to use the results later for a restart.

MinEnergyProfile
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Minimum energy profile

Description

Calculate minimum energy profile (i.e. no mass-weighting) instead of the IRC.

MinPathLength
Type

Float

Default value

0.1

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Minimum length of the path required before switching to energy minimization. Use this to overcome a small kink or a shoulder on the path.

Restart
Type

Block

Description

Restart options. Upon restart, the information about the IRC input parameters and the initial system (atomic coordinates, lattice, charge, etc.) is read from the restart file. The IRC input parameters can be modified from input. Except for ‘MaxPoints’ and ‘Direction’ all parameters not specified in the input will use their values from the restart file. The ‘MaxPoints’ and ‘Direction’ will be reset to their respective default values if not specified in the input. By default, the IRC calculation will continue from the point where it left off. However, the ‘RedoForward’ and/or ‘RedoBackward’ option can be used to enforce recalculation of a part of the reaction path, for example, using a different ‘Step’ value.

File
Type

String

GUI name

Restart

Description

Name of an RKF restart file generated by a previous IRC calculation. Do not use this key to provide an RKF file generated by a TransitionStateSearch or a SinglePoint calculation, use the ‘LoadSystem’ block instead.

RedoBackward
Type

Integer

Default value

0

Description

IRC step number to start recalculating the backward path from. By default, if the backward path has not been completed then start after the last completed step. If the backward path has been completed and the ‘RedoBackward’ is omitted then no point on the backward path will be recomputed.

RedoForward
Type

Integer

Default value

0

Description

IRC step number to start recalculating the forward path from. By default, if the forward path has not been completed then start after the last completed step. If the forward path has been completed and the ‘RedoForward’ is omitted then no point on the forward path will be recomputed.

Step
Type

Float

Default value

0.2

GUI name

Step size

Description

IRC step size in mass-weighted coordinates, sqrt(amu)*bohr. One may have to increase this value when heavy atoms are involved in the reaction, or decrease it if the reactant or products are very close to the transition state.

LoadEngine
Type

String

Description

The path to the file from which to load the engine configuration. Replaces the Engine block.

LoadSystem
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

Block that controls reading the chemical system from a KF file instead of the [System] block.

File
Type

String

Description

The path of the KF file from which to load the system. It may also be the results directory containing it.

Section
Type

String

Default value

Molecule

Description

The section on the KF file from which to load the system.

Log
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Configures the debugging loggers. Syntax: ‘Level LoggerName’. Possible Levels: All, Debug, Info, Warning, Error, Fatal.

MolecularDynamics
Type

Block

Description

Configures molecular dynamics (with the velocity-Verlet algorithm) with and without thermostats. This block allows to specify the details of the molecular dynamics calculation.

AddMolecules
Type

Block

Recurring

True

GUI name

Add molecules

Description

This block controls adding molecules to the system (a.k.a. the Molecule Gun). Multiple occurrences of this block are possible. By default, molecules are added at random positions in the simulation box with velocity matching the current system temperature. The initial position can be modified using one of the following keywords: Coords, CoordsBox, FractionalCoords, FractionalCoordsBox. The Coords and FractionalCoords keys can optionally be accompanied by CoordsSigma or FractionalCoordsSigma, respectively.

AtomTemperature
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Kelvin

Description

Add random velocity corresponding to the specified temperature to individual atoms of the molecule. This only affects rotational and internal degrees of freedom, not the net translational velocity of the inserted molecule as set by the other options.

ContactDistance
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Translate the bullet along the velocity vector until it comes within ContactDistance of any other atom.

Coords
Type

Float List

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Place molecules at or around the specified Cartesian coordinates. This setting takes precedence over other ways to specify initial coordinates of the molecule: [CoordsBox], [FractionalCoords], and [FractionalCoordsBox].

CoordsBox
Type

Float List

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Place molecules at random locations inside the specified box in Cartesian coordinates. Coordinates of the box corners are specified as: Xmin, Xmax, Ymin, Ymax, Zmin, Zmax. This setting is ignored if Coords is used. In AMSinput, if this field is not empty it will be used instead of the default Coords.

CoordsSigma
Type

Float List

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Sigma values (one per Cartesian axis) for a Gauss distribution of the initial coordinates. Can only be used together with Coords.

DeviationAngle
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Degree

Description

Randomly tilt the shooting direction up to this angle away from the VelocityDirection vector.

Energy
Type

Float

Unit

Hartree

Description

Initial kinetic energy of the molecule in the shooting direction.

EnergySigma
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Hartree

Description

Sigma value for the Gauss distribution of the initial kinetic energy around the specified value. Should only be used together with Energy.

FractionalCoords
Type

Float List

Description

Place molecules at or around the specified fractional coordinates in the main system’s lattice. For non-periodic dimensions a Cartesian value in Angstrom is expected. This setting is ignored if [Coords] or [CoordsBox] is used.

FractionalCoordsBox
Type

Float List

Description

Place molecules at random locations inside the box specified as fractional coordinates in the main system’s lattice. Coordinates of the box corners are specified as: Xmin, Xmax, Ymin, Ymax, Zmin, Zmax. For non-periodic dimensions the Cartesian value in Angstrom is expected. This setting is ignored if [Coords], [CoordsBox], or [FractionalCoords] is used.

FractionalCoordsSigma
Type

Float List

Description

Sigma values (one per axis) for a Gauss distribution of the initial coordinates. For non-periodic dimensions the Cartesian value in Angstrom is expected. Can only be used together with FractionalCoords.

Frequency
Type

Integer

Default value

0

Description

A molecule is added every [Frequency] steps after the StartStep. There is never a molecule added at step 0.

MinDistance
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Keep the minimal distance to other atoms of the system when adding the molecule.

MoleFraction
Type

Float

Description

Defines a mixture to be deposited using one AddMolecules block per component. AMS will randomly alternate between any guns that have MoleFraction set. These need to all have the same settings for StartStep, StopStep and Frequency. Any additional AddMolecules blocks without MoleFraction will remain completely independent.

NumAttempts
Type

Integer

Default value

10

Description

Try adding the molecule up to the specified number of times or until the MinDistance constraint is satisfied. If all attempts fail a message will be printed and the simulation will continue normally.

Rotate
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Rotate the molecule randomly before adding it to the system.

StartStep
Type

Integer

Default value

0

Description

Step number when the first molecule should be added. After that, molecules are added every Frequency steps. For example, ff StartStep=99 and Frequency=100 then a molecule will be added at steps 99, 199, 299, etc… No molecule will be added at step 0, so if StartStep=0 the first molecule is added at the step number equal to [Frequency].

StopStep
Type

Integer

Description

Do not add this molecule after the specified step.

System
Type

String

Description

String ID of the [System] that will be added with this ‘gun’. The lattice specified with this System is ignored and the main system’s lattice is used instead. AMSinput adds the system at the coordinates of the System (thus setting Coords to the center of the System).

Temperature
Type

Float

Unit

Kelvin

Description

Initial energy of the molecule in the shooting direction will correspond to the given temperature.

TemperatureSigma
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Kelvin

Description

Sigma value for the Gauss distribution of the initial temperature the specified value. Should only be used together with Temperature.

Velocity
Type

Float

Unit

Angstrom/fs

Description

Initial velocity of the molecule in the shooting direction.

VelocityDirection
Type

Float List

Description

Velocity direction vector for aimed shooting. It will be random if not specified. In AMSinput add one or two atoms (which may be dummies). One atom: use vector from center of the system to add to that atom. Two atoms: use vector from the first to the second atom.

VelocitySigma
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Angstrom/fs

Description

Sigma value for the Gauss distribution of the initial velocity around the specified value. Should only be used together with Velocity.

ApplyForce
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

The ApplyForce keyword can be used to apply an arbitrary constant force to a certain (subgroups of) atoms in the system

Force
Type

Float List

Unit

Hartree/Bohr

Description

Defines the constant force vector

PerAtom
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

If enabled, the Force vector is applied separately to every atom in the selected Region, so that the total net force on the Region equals the value of Force times the number of atoms in Region. This was the behaviour of ApplyForce in AMS2022. By default, with PerAtom disabled, the Force vector defines the total net force on the Region, so the force applied to each atom equals the value of Force divided by the number of atoms in Region.

Region
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Apply the constant force to all atoms in this region.

ApplyVelocity
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

The ApplyVelocity keyword can be used to move an arbitrary group of atoms in the system with a constant net velocity

Components
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

XY

Options

[X, Y, Z, XY, YZ, XZ, XYZ]

Description

Select which components of the Velocity vector are used to set the corresponding components of the net velocity of the specified set of atoms. Any other components of Velocity are ignored and the motion of the selected atoms in those directions is unaffected by ApplyVelocity.

Region
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Applies the defined velocity to all atoms in this region.

Velocity
Type

Float List

Unit

Angstrom/fs

Recurring

False

Description

The constant velocity that will be applied to the specified atoms.

Barostat
Type

Block

Description

This block allows to specify the use of a barostat during the simulation.

BulkModulus
Type

Float

Default value

2200000000.0

Unit

Pascal

Description

An estimate of the bulk modulus (inverse compressibility) of the system for the Berendsen barostat. This is only used to make Tau correspond to the true observed relaxation time constant. Values are commonly on the order of 10-100 GPa (1e10 to 1e11) for solids and 1 GPa (1e9) for liquids (2.2e9 for water). Use 1e9 to match the behavior of standalone ReaxFF.

ConstantVolume
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Keep the volume constant while allowing the box shape to change. This is currently supported only by the MTK barostat.

Duration
Type

Integer List

Description

Specifies how many steps should a transition from a particular pressure to the next one in sequence take.

Equal
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

None

Options

[None, XYZ, XY, YZ, XZ]

Description

Enforce equal scaling of the selected set of dimensions. They will be barostatted as one dimension according to the average pressure over the components.

Pressure
Type

Float List

Unit

Pascal

Description

Specifies the target pressure. You can specify multiple pressures (separated by spaces). In that case the Duration field specifies how many steps to use for the transition from one p to the next p (using a linear ramp).

Scale
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

XYZ

Options

[XYZ, Shape, X, Y, Z, XY, YZ, XZ]

Description

Dimensions that should be scaled by the barostat to maintain pressure. Selecting Shape means that all three dimensions and also all the cell angles are allowed to change.

Tau
Type

Float

Unit

Femtoseconds

GUI name

Damping constant

Description

Specifies the time constant of the barostat.

Type
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

None

Options

[None, Berendsen, MTK]

GUI name

Barostat

Description

Selects the type of the barostat.

BinLog
Type

Block

Description

This block controls writing the BinLog section in ams.rkf, which contains the selected MD state scalars and tensors from every MD step. No per-atom data is written. If you need the per-atom data then you can set the sampling frequency to 1 and get the required data from the MDHistory section. The tensors are written per component, that is, the pressure tensor is written as six variables: PressureTensor_xx, PressureTensor_yy, etc.. To reduce the file size, all data is written in blocks.

BiasEnergy
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the CVDH bias energy.

BoostFactor
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the CVDH boost factor.

ConservedEnergy
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the conserved energy value.

Density
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the density.

Hypertime
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the CVDH hypertime.

KineticEnergy
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the kinetic energy value.

MaxBiasEnergy
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the max CVDH bias energy.

MaxBoostFactor
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the max CVDH boost factor.

PotentialEnergy
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the potential energy value.

Pressure
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the pressure.

PressureTensor
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the pressure tensor in Voigt notation. Each component of the tensor is written in its own variable.

Step
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the step index during the simulation.

Temperature
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the temperature.

Time
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the simulation time (fs).

TotalEnergy
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the total energy value.

Volume
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the simulation cell volume, area or length, depending on the system periodicity.

BondBoost
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

Forced reaction (bond boost) definitions. Multiple BondBoost blocks may be specified, which will be treated independently.

Chain
Type

Block

Description

Specifications of a chain of atoms. When a chain is detected the distance restraints will be activated. No other chain of this type will be detected while any restraints for this chain is active.

AtomNames
Type

String

Description

Atom names specifying the chain. An atom name can optionally be followed by ‘@’ and a region name, in this case only atoms of this type from the given region will be matched. A leading ‘@’ followed by a number indicates that this position in the chain must be occupied by the atom found earlier at the specified position in the chain. For example “O H N C @1” indicates that the last atom in the chain of the five atoms must be the first oxygen, thus defining a 4-membered ring. This is the only way to define a ring because implicit rings will not be detected. For example, “O H N C O” does not include rings.

MaxDistances
Type

Float List

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Maximum distances for each pair of atoms in the chain. The number of distances must be one less than the number of AtomNames.

MinDistances
Type

Float List

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Minimum distances for each pair of atoms in the chain. The number of distances must be one less than the number of AtomNames.

DistanceRestraint
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Specify two atom indices followed by the optimum distance in Angstrom, the first parameter and, optionally, the profile type and the second parameter. This restraint will try to keep the distance between the two specified atoms at the given value. For periodic systems this restraint follows the minimum image convention. Each atom index indicates a position of the corresponding atom in the AtomNames key. Currently recognized restraint profile types: Harmonic (default), Hyperbolic, Erf, GaussianWell. The first parameter is the force constant for the Harmonic, Hyperbolic, and Erf profiles, or well depth for GaussianWell. The second parameter is the asymptotic force value F(Inf) for Hyperbolic and Erf profiles, or the factor before x^2 in the exponent for GaussianWell. Note: the GaussianWell restraint should be used with the Moving flag.

Moving
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Move restraint

Description

Move the restraints created with this BondBoost. The restraint value will start at the currect coordinate’s value and will move towards the optimum during the restraint’s lifetime. The increment is calculated from the initial deviation and the [NSteps] parameter. This feature should be used with the GaussianWell restraint types.

NSteps
Type

Integer

GUI name

Boost lifetime

Description

Number of steps the restraints will remain active until removed. Atoms participating in one reaction are not available for the given number of steps.

NumInstances
Type

Integer

Default value

1

GUI name

Number of instances

Description

Number of reactions of this type taking place simultaneously.

Units
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Default

Options

[Default, MD]

GUI name

Restr. parameter units

Description

Change energy, force and force constant units in the DistanceRestraint key from the default (atomic units) to those often used in the MD community (based on kcal/mol and Angstrom). Units for the optimum distances are not affected.

CRESTMTD
Type

Block

GUI name

CREST_MTD

Description

Input for CREST metadynamics simulation.

AddEnergy
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Add the bias energy to the potential energy (to match the gradients)

GaussianScaling
Type

Block

Description

Options for gradual introduction of the Gaussians

ScaleGaussians
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Introduce the Gaussians gradually, using a scaling function

ScalingSlope
Type

Float

Default value

0.03

Description

Slope of the scaling function for the Gaussians with respect to time

Height
Type

Float

Unit

Hartree

Description

The height of the Gaussians added

NGaussiansMax
Type

Integer

Description

Maximum number of Gaussians stored

NSteps
Type

Integer

Description

Interval of Gaussian placement

Region
Type

String

Default value

*

Description

Restrict the range of atoms for RMSD calculation to the specified region.

RestartFile
Type

String

Description

Filename for file from which to read data on Gaussians placed previously.

Width
Type

Float

Unit

Bohr

Description

The width of the Gaussians added in terms of the RMSD

CVHD
Type

Block

Recurring

True

GUI name

CVHD

Description

Input for the Collective Variable-driven HyperDynamics (CVHD).

Bias
Type

Block

Description

The bias is built from a series of Gaussian peaks deposited on the collective variable axis every [Frequency] steps during MD. Each peak is characterized by its (possibly damped) height and the RMS width (standard deviation).

DampingTemp
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Kelvin

GUI name

Bias damping T

Description

During well-tempered hyperdynamics the height of the added bias is scaled down with an exp(-E/kT) factor [PhysRevLett 100, 020603 (2008)], where E is the current value of the bias at the given CV value and T is the damping temperature DampingTemp. If DampingTemp is zero then no damping is applied.

Delta
Type

Float

Description

Standard deviation parameter of the Gaussian bias peak.

Height
Type

Float

Unit

Hartree

Description

Height of the Gaussian bias peak.

ColVarBB
Type

Block

Recurring

True

GUI name

Collective Variable

Description

Description of a bond-breaking collective variable (CV) as described in [Bal & Neyts, JCTC, 11 (2015)]. A collective variable may consist of multiple ColVar blocks.

at1
Type

Block

Description

Specifies the first bonded atom in the collective variable.

region
Type

String

Default value

*

Description

Restrict the selection of bonded atoms to a specific region. If this is not set, atoms anywhere in the system will be selected.

symbol
Type

String

Description

Atom type name of the first atom of the bond. The name must be as it appears in the System block. That is, if the atom name contains an extension (e.g C.1) then the full name including the extension must be used here.

at2
Type

Block

Description

Specifies the second bonded atom in the collective variable.

region
Type

String

Default value

*

Description

Restrict the selection of bonded atoms to a specific region. If this is not set, atoms anywhere in the system will be selected.

symbol
Type

String

Description

Atom type name of the second atom of the bond. The value is allowed to be the same as [at1], in which case bonds between atoms of the same type will be included.

cutoff
Type

Float

Default value

0.3

GUI name

Bond order cutoff

Description

Bond order cutoff. Bonds with BO below this value are ignored when creating the initial bond list for the CV. The bond list does not change during lifetime of the variable even if some bond orders drop below the cutoff.

p
Type

Integer

Default value

6

GUI name

Exponent p

Description

Exponent value p used to calculate the p-norm for this CV.

rmax
Type

Float

Unit

Angstrom

GUI name

R max

Description

Max bond distance parameter Rmax used for calculating the CV. It should be close to the transition-state distance for the corresponding bond.

rmin
Type

Float

Unit

Angstrom

GUI name

R min

Description

Min bond distance parameter Rmin used for calculating the CV. It should be close to equilibrium distance for the corresponding bond.

Frequency
Type

Integer

Description

Frequency of adding a new bias peak, in steps. New bias is deposited every [Frequency] steps after [StartStep] if the following conditions are satisfied: the current CV value is less than 0.9 (to avoid creating barriers at the transition state), the step number is greater than or equal to [StartStep], and the step number is less than or equal to [StopStep].

StartStep
Type

Integer

Description

If this key is specified, the first bias will be deposited at this step. Otherwise, the first bias peak is added at the step number equal to the Frequency parameter. The bias is never deposited at step 0.

StopStep
Type

Integer

Description

No bias will be deposited after the specified step. The already deposited bias will continue to be applied until the reaction event occurs. After that no new CVHD will be started. By default, the CVHD runs for the whole duration of the MD calculation.

WaitSteps
Type

Integer

Description

If the CV value becomes equal to 1 and remains at this value for this many steps then the reaction event is considered having taken place. After this, the collective variable will be reset and the bias will be removed.

CalcPressure
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Calculate pressure

Description

Calculate the pressure in periodic systems. This may be computationally expensive for some engines that require numerical differentiation. Some other engines can calculate the pressure for negligible additional cost and will always do so, even if this option is disabled.

Checkpoint
Type

Block

Description

Sets the frequency for storing the entire MD state necessary for restarting the calculation.

Frequency
Type

Integer

Default value

1000

GUI name

Checkpoint frequency

Description

Write the MD state and engine-specific data to the respective .rkf files once every N steps.

WriteProperties
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write the properties from the properties section to the ChecoPoint file once every N steps.

CopyRestartTrajectory
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

If the keyword Restart is present, the content of the restartfile is copied to the ams.rkf file.

CosineShear
Type

Block

Description

Apply an external acceleration to all atoms of a fluid using a periodic (cosine) function along a selected coordinate axis. This induces a periodic shear flow profile which can be used to determine the viscosity.

Acceleration
Type

Float

Default value

5e-06

Unit

Angstrom/fs^2

Description

Amplitude of the applied cosine shear acceleration profile. The default value should be a rough first guess for water and it needs to be adjusted by experimentation for other systems.

Enabled
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Enable cosine shear

Description

Apply a cosine shear acceleration profile for a NEMD calculation of viscosity.

FlowDirection
Type

Float List

Default value

[1.0, 0.0, 0.0]

Description

The direction in which to apply the shear acceleration, in Cartesian coordinates. The magnitude of this vector is ignored (AMS will normalize it internally). FlowDirection has to be perpendicular to ProfileAxis.

ProfileAxis
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Z

Options

[X, Y, Z]

Description

The Cartesian coordinate axis along which the cosine wave runs

Deformation
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

Deform the periodic lattice of the system during the simulation.

LatticeVelocity
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Velocity of individual lattice vector components in Angstrom/fs. The format is identical to the System%Lattice block. For Type Sine and Cosine, this defines the maximum velocity (at the inflection point).

LengthRate
Type

Float List

Default value

[0.0, 0.0, 0.0]

Description

Relative rate of change of each lattice vector per step.

LengthVelocity
Type

Float List

Default value

[0.0, 0.0, 0.0]

Unit

Angstrom/fs

Description

Change the length of each lattice vector with this velocity. With Type=Exponential, LengthVelocity is divided by the current lattice vector lengths on StartStep to determine a LengthRate, which is then applied on all subsequent steps. For Type Sine and Cosine, this defines the maximum velocity (at the inflection point).

Period
Type

Float

Unit

Femtoseconds

Description

Period of oscillation for Type Sine and Cosine.

ScaleAtoms
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Scale the atomic positions together with the lattice vectors. Disable this to deform only the lattice, keeping the coordinates of atoms unchanged.

StartStep
Type

Integer

Default value

1

Description

First step at which the deformation will be applied.

StopStep
Type

Integer

Default value

0

Description

Last step at which the deformation will be applied. If unset or zero, nSteps will be used instead.

StrainRate
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Strain rate matrix to be applied on every step. The format is identical to the System%Lattice block.

TargetLattice
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Target lattice vectors to be achieved by StopStep. The format is identical to the System%Lattice block.

TargetLength
Type

Float List

Default value

[0.0, 0.0, 0.0]

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Target lengths of each lattice vector to be achieved by StopStep. The number of values should equal the periodicity of the system. If a value is zero, the corresponding lattice vector will not be modified.

Type
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Linear

Options

[Linear, Exponential, Sine, Cosine]

Description

Function defining the time dependence of the deformed lattice parameters. Linear increments the lattice parameters by the same absolute amount every timestep. Exponential multiplies the lattice parameters by the same factor every timestep. Only StrainRate, LengthRate, and LengthVelocity are supported for Type=Exponential. Sine deforms the system from the starting lattice to TargetLattice/TargetLength and then by the same amount to the opposite direction, while Cosine deforms the system from the starting lattice to the target and back.

Gravity
Type

Block

Description

Apply a constant acceleration in -z.

Acceleration
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Angstrom/fs^2

Description

Magnitude of the applied acceleration.

HeatExchange
Type

Block

Recurring

True

GUI name

Heat exchange

Description

Input for the heat-exchange non-equilibrium MD (T-NEMD).

HeatingRate
Type

Float

Unit

Hartree/fs

Description

Rate at which the energy is added to the Source and removed from the Sink. A heating rate of 1 Hartree/fs equals to about 0.00436 Watt of power being transferred through the system.

Method
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Simple

Options

[Simple, HEX, eHEX]

Description

Heat exchange method used. Simple: kinetic energy of the atoms of the source and sink regions is modified irrespective of that of the center of mass (CoM) of the region (recommended for solids). HEX: kinetic energy of the atoms of these regions is modified keeping that of the corresponding CoM constant. eHEX: an enhanced version of HEX that conserves the total energy better (recommended for gases and liquids).

Sink
Type

Block

Description

Defines the heat sink region (where the heat will be removed).

AtomList
Type

Integer List

GUI name

Sink region

Description

The atoms that are part of the sink. This key is ignored if the [Box] block or [Region] key is present.

Box
Type

Block

Description

Part of the simulation box (in fractional cell coordinates) defining the heat sink. If this block is specified, then by default, the whole box in each of the three dimensions is used, which usually does not make much sense. Normally, you will want to set the bounds along one of the axes.

Amax
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the first axis.

Amin
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the first axis.

Bmax
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the second axis.

Bmin
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the second axis.

Cmax
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the third axis.

Cmin
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the third axis.

Region
Type

String

GUI name

Sink region

Description

The region that is the sink. This key is ignored if the [Box] block is present.

Source
Type

Block

Description

Defines the heat source region (where the heat will be added).

AtomList
Type

Integer List

GUI name

Source region

Description

The atoms that are part of the source. This key is ignored if the [Box] block or [Region] key is present.

Box
Type

Block

Description

Part of the simulation box (in fractional cell coordinates) defining the heat source. If this block is specified, then by default, the whole box in each of the three dimensions is used, which usually does not make much sense. Normally, you will want to set the bounds along one of the axes. This block is mutually exclusive with the FirstAtom/LastAtom setting.

Amax
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the first axis.

Amin
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the first axis.

Bmax
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the second axis.

Bmin
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the second axis.

Cmax
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the third axis.

Cmin
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the third axis.

Region
Type

String

GUI name

Source region

Description

The region that is the source. This key is ignored if the [Box] block is present.

StartStep
Type

Integer

Default value

0

Description

Index of the MD step at which the heat exchange will start.

StopStep
Type

Integer

Description

Index of the MD step at which the heat exchange will stop.

InitialVelocities
Type

Block

Description

Sets the frequency for printing to stdout and storing the molecular configuration on the .rkf file.

File
Type

String

Description

AMS RKF file containing the initial velocities.

RandomVelocitiesMethod
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Exact

Options

[Exact, Boltzmann, Gromacs]

GUI name

Velocity randomization method

Description

Specifies how are random velocities generated. Three methods are available. Exact: Velocities are scaled to exactly match set random velocities temperature. Boltzmann: Velocities are not scaled and sample Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. However, the distribution is not corrected for constraints. Gromacs: Velocities are scaled to match set random velocities temperature, but removal of net momentum is performed only after the scaling. Resulting kinetic energy is lower based on how much net momentum the system had.

Temperature
Type

Float

Unit

Kelvin

GUI name

Initial temperature

Description

Sets the temperature for the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution when the type of the initial velocities is set to random, in which case specifying this key is mandatory. AMSinput will use the first temperature of the first thermostat as default.

Type
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Random

Options

[Zero, Random, FromFile, Input]

GUI name

Initial velocities

Description

Specifies the initial velocities to assign to the atoms. Three methods to assign velocities are available. Zero: All atom are at rest at the beginning of the calculation. Random: Initial atom velocities follow a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution for the temperature given by the [MolecularDynamics%InitialVelocities%Temperature] keyword. FromFile: Load the velocities from a previous ams result file. Input: Atom’s velocities are set to the values specified in the [MolecularDynamics%InitialVelocities%Values] block, which can be accessed via the Expert AMS panel in AMSinput.

Values
Type

Non-standard block

Description

This block specifies the velocity of each atom, in Angstrom/fs, when [MolecularDynamics%InitialVelocities%Type] is set to Input. Each row must contain three floating point values (corresponding to the x,y,z component of the velocity vector) and a number of rows equal to the number of atoms must be present, given in the same order as the [System%Atoms] block.

NSteps
Type

Integer

Default value

1000

GUI name

Number of steps

Description

The number of steps to be taken in the MD simulation.

Plumed
Type

Block

Description

Input for PLUMED. The parallel option is still experimental.

Input
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Input for PLUMED. Contents of this block is passed to PLUMED as is.

Parallel
Type

Block

Description

Options for double parallelization, which allows to split the available processor cores into groups working through all the available tasks in parallel, resulting in a better parallel performance. The keys in this block determine how to split the available processor cores into groups working in parallel.

nCoresPerGroup
Type

Integer

GUI name

Cores per group

Description

Number of cores in each working group.

nGroups
Type

Integer

GUI name

Number of groups

Description

Total number of processor groups. This is the number of tasks that will be executed in parallel.

nNodesPerGroup
Type

Integer

GUI name

Nodes per group

Description

Number of nodes in each group. This option should only be used on homogeneous compute clusters, where all used compute nodes have the same number of processor cores.

Preserve
Type

Block

Description

Periodically remove numerical drift accumulated during the simulation to preserve different whole-system parameters.

AngularMomentum
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

GUI name

: Angular momentum

Description

Remove overall angular momentum of the system. This option is ignored for 2D and 3D-periodic systems, and disabled by default for systems which are not translationally invariant (for example when frozen atoms are present).

CenterOfMass
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

: Center of mass

Description

Translate the system to keep its center of mass at the coordinate origin. This option is not very useful for 3D-periodic systems.

Momentum
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

GUI name

Preserve: Total momentum

Description

Remove overall (linear) momentum of the system. This is disabled by default for systems which are not translationally invariant (for example when frozen atoms are present).

Print
Type

Block

Description

This block controls the printing of additional information to stdout.

System
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Print the chemical system before and after the simulation.

Velocities
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Print the atomic velocities before and after the simulation.

Reactor
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

Define one phase of the nanoreactor. A reactor is a region of space surrounded by an elastic wall. Atoms inside the region are not affected. Atoms outside it will be pushed back with force depending on the [ForceConstant] and the [MassScaled] flag.

ForceConstant
Type

Float

GUI name

Reactor force constant

Description

Force constant of the reactor wall in Hartree/Bohr^2 (or Hartree/Bohr^2/Dalton if [MassScaled] is true).

MassScaled
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

GUI name

Scale force by mass

Description

If this flag is disabled the force on an atom outside of the reactor depends only on the atomic coordinates and the force constant. Otherwise, the force is also multiplied by the mass of the atom. This means that atoms at the same distance from the wall will receive the same accelerate due to the wall potential.

NSteps
Type

Integer

GUI name

Reactor lifetime

Description

Number of steps for which the reactor will remain active until disabled. The next reactor will be activated immediately after this. After the last reactor is disabled the cycle will repeat.

Radius
Type

Float

Unit

Angstrom

GUI name

Reactor radius

Description

Radius of the reactor sphere.

ReflectiveWall
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

Apply a reflective wall in space

Axis
Type

Float List

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Defines the normal vector perpendicular to the plane of the reflective wall. Any particle moving in this direction will be reflected back.

Region
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Apply the reflective wall to all atoms in this region.

Threshold
Type

Float

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Defines the threshold value determining the position of the reflective wall. If the dot product of a position of a particle with Axis exceeds Threshold, the particle will be reflected. This means that the plane of the wall passes through a point given by Axis times Threshold.

Remap
Type

Block

Description

Control periodic remapping (backtranslation) of atoms into the PBC box.

Type
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Atoms

Options

[None, Atoms]

Description

Select the method used to remap atoms into the unit cell. None: Disable remapping completely. Atoms: Remap any atoms that leave the unit cell.

RemoveMolecules
Type

Block

Recurring

True

GUI name

Remove molecules

Description

This block controls removal of molecules from the system. Multiple occurrences of this block are possible.

Formula
Type

String

Description

Molecular formula of the molecules that should be removed from the system. The order of elements in the formula is very important and the correct order is: C, H, all other elements in the strictly alphabetic order. Element names are case-sensitive, spaces in the formula are not allowed. Digit ‘1’ must be omitted. Valid formula examples: C2H6O, H2O, O2S. Invalid formula examples: C2H5OH, H2O1, OH, SO2. Invalid formulas are silently ignored. Use * to remove any molecule, which must be combined with SinkBox or SafeBox.

Frequency
Type

Integer

Default value

0

Description

The specified molecules are removed every so many steps after the StartStep. There is never a molecule removed at step 0.

SafeBox
Type

Block

Description

Part of the simulation box where molecules may not be removed. Only one of the SinkBox or SafeBox blocks may be present. If this block is present the molecule will not be removed if any of its atoms is within the box. For a periodic dimension it is given as a fraction of the simulation box (the full 0 to 1 range by default). For a non-periodic dimension it represents absolute Cartesian coordinates in Angstrom.

Amax
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the first axis.

Amin
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the first axis.

Bmax
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the second axis.

Bmin
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the second axis.

Cmax
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the third axis.

Cmin
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the third axis.

FractionalCoordsBox
Type

Float List

GUI name

Safe box

Description

Do not remove molecules that are (partly) inside the safe box. Borders of the safe box specified as: Amin, Amax, Bmin, Bmax, Cmin, Cmax. For periodic dimensions fractional coordinates between 0 and 1 and for non-periodic dimensions Cartesian values in Angstrom are expected.

SinkBox
Type

Block

Description

Part of the simulation box where matching molecules will be removed. By default, molecules matching the formula will be removed regardless of their location. If this block is present then such a molecule will only be removed if any of its atoms is within the box. For a periodic dimension it is given as a fraction of the simulation box (the full 0 to 1 range by default). For a non-periodic dimension it represents absolute Cartesian coordinates in Angstrom.

Amax
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the first axis.

Amin
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the first axis.

Bmax
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the second axis.

Bmin
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the second axis.

Cmax
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the upper bound along the third axis.

Cmin
Type

Float

Description

Coordinate of the lower bound along the third axis.

FractionalCoordsBox
Type

Float List

GUI name

Sink box

Description

Remove molecules that are (partly) inside the sink box. Borders of the sink box specified as: Amin, Amax, Bmin, Bmax, Cmin, Cmax. For periodic dimensions fractional coordinates between 0 and 1 and for non-periodic dimensions Cartesian values in Angstrom are expected.

StartStep
Type

Integer

Default value

0

Description

Step number when molecules are removed for the first time. After that, molecules are removed every [Frequency] steps. For example, if StartStep=99 and Frequency=100 then molecules will be removed at steps 99, 199, 299, etc… No molecule will be removed at step 0, so if StartStep=0 the first molecules are removed at the step number equal to [Frequency].

StopStep
Type

Integer

Description

Do not remove the specified molecules after this step.

ReplicaExchange
Type

Block

Description

This block is used for (temperature) Replica Exchange MD (Parallel Tempering) simulations.

AllowWrongResults
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Allow combining Replica Exchange with other features when the combination is known to produce physically incorrect results.

EWMALength
Type

Integer

Default value

10

Description

Length of the exponentially weighted moving average used to smooth swap probabilities for monitoring. This value is equal to the inverse of the EWMA mixing factor.

SwapFrequency
Type

Integer

Default value

100

Description

Attempt an exchange every N steps.

TemperatureFactors
Type

Float List

Description

This is the ratio of the temperatures of two successive replicas. The first value sets the temperature of the second replica with respect to the first replica, the second value sets the temperature of the third replica with respect to the second one, and so on. If there are fewer values than nReplicas, the last value of TemperatureFactor is used for all the remaining replicas.

Temperatures
Type

Float List

Description

List of temperatures for all replicas except for the first one. This is mutually exclusive with TemperatureFactors. Exactly nReplicas-1 temperature values need to be specified, in increasing order. The temperature of the first replica is given by [Thermostat%Temperature].

nReplicas
Type

Integer

Default value

1

GUI name

Number of replicas

Description

Number of replicas to run in parallel.

Restart
Type

String

GUI name

Restart from

Description

The path to the ams.rkf file from which to restart the simulation.

Shake
Type

Block

Description

Parameters of the Shake/Rattle algorithm.

All
Type

String

Recurring

True

GUI name

Constrain all

Description

Constraint description in one the following formats: All [bondOrder] bonds at1 at2 [to distance] All triangles at1 at2 at3 The first option constrains all bonds between atoms at1 at2 to a certain length, while the second - bonds at1-at2 and at2-at3 and the angle between them. The [bondOrder] can be a number or a string such as single, double, triple or aromatic. If it’s omitted then all bonds between specified atoms will be constrained. Atom names are case-sensitive and they must be as they are in the Atoms block, or an asterisk ‘*’ denoting any atom. The distance, if present, must be in Angstrom. If it is omitted then the bond length from the initial geometry is used. Important: only the bonds present in the system at certain points of the simulation (at the start or right after adding/removing atoms) can be constrained, which means that the bonds may need to be specified in the System block. Warning: the triangles constraint should be used with care because each constrained bond or angle means removing one degree of freedom from the dynamics. When there are too many constraints (for example, “All triangles H C H” in methane) some of them may be linearly dependent, which will lead to an error in the temperature computation. Valid examples: All single bonds C C to 1.4 All bonds O H to 0.98 All bonds O H All bonds H * All triangles H * H

ConvergeR2
Type

Float

Default value

1e-08

Description

Convergence criterion on the max squared difference, in atomic units.

ConvergeRV
Type

Float

Default value

1e-08

Description

Convergence criterion on the orthogonality of the constraint and the relative atomic velocity, in atomic units.

Iterations
Type

Integer

Default value

100

Description

Number of iterations.

ShakeInitialCoordinates
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Apply constraints before computing the first energy and gradients.

Thermostat
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

This block allows to specify the use of a thermostat during the simulation. Depending on the selected thermostat type, different additional options may be needed to characterize the specific thermostat’ behavior.

BerendsenApply
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Global

Options

[Local, Global]

GUI name

Apply Berendsen

Description

Select how to apply the scaling correction for the Berendsen thermostat: - per-atom-velocity (Local) - on the molecular system as a whole (Global).

ChainLength
Type

Integer

Default value

10

GUI name

NHC chain length

Description

Number of individual thermostats forming the NHC thermostat

Duration
Type

Integer List

GUI name

Duration(s)

Description

Specifies how many steps should a transition from a particular temperature to the next one in sequence take.

Region
Type

String

Default value

*

Description

The identifier of the region to thermostat. The default ‘*’ applies the thermostat to the entire system. The value can by a plain region name, or a region expression, e.g. ‘*-myregion’ to thermostat all atoms that are not in myregion, or ‘regionA+regionB’ to thermostat the union of the ‘regionA’ and ‘regionB’. Note that if multiple thermostats are used, their regions may not overlap.

Tau
Type

Float

Unit

Femtoseconds

GUI name

Damping constant

Description

The time constant of the thermostat.

Temperature
Type

Float List

Unit

Kelvin

GUI name

Temperature(s)

Description

The target temperature of the thermostat. You can specify multiple temperatures (separated by spaces). In that case the Duration field specifies how many steps to use for the transition from one T to the next T (using a linear ramp). For NHC thermostat, the temperature may not be zero.

Type
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

None

Options

[None, Berendsen, NHC]

GUI name

Thermostat

Description

Selects the type of the thermostat.

TimeStep
Type

Float

Default value

0.25

Unit

Femtoseconds

Description

The time difference per step.

Trajectory
Type

Block

Description

Sets the frequency for printing to stdout and storing the molecular configuration on the .rkf file.

PrintFreq
Type

Integer

GUI name

Printing frequency

Description

Print current thermodynamic properties to the output every N steps. By default this is done every SamplingFreq steps.

SamplingFreq
Type

Integer

Default value

100

GUI name

Sample frequency

Description

Write the the molecular geometry (and possibly other properties) to the .rkf file once every N steps.

TProfileGridPoints
Type

Integer

Default value

0

Description

Number of points in the temperature profile. If TProfileGridPoints > 0, a temperature profile along each of the three lattice axes will be written to the .rkf file. The temperature at a given profile point is calculated as the total temperature of all atoms inside the corresponding slice of the simulation box, time-averaged over all MD steps since the previous snapshot.​ By default, no profile is generated.

WriteBonds
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Write detected bonds to the .rkf file.

WriteCharges
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Write current atomic point charges (if available) to the .rkf file. Disable this to reduce trajectory size if you do not need to analyze charges.

WriteCoordinates
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Write atomic coordinates to the .rkf file.

WriteEngineGradients
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Write atomic gradients (negative of the atomic forces, as calculated by the engine) to the History section of ams.rkf.

WriteMolecules
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Write the results of molecule analysis to the .rkf file.

WriteVelocities
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Write velocities to the .rkf file. Disable this to reduce trajectory size if you do not need to analyze the velocities.

fbMC
Type

Block

Recurring

True

GUI name

fbMC

Description

This block sets up force bias Monte Carlo interleaved with the molecular dynamics simulation.

Frequency
Type

Integer

Default value

1

Description

Run the fbMC procedure every Frequency MD steps.

MassRoot
Type

Float

Default value

2.0

Description

Inverse of the exponent used to mass-weight fbMC steps.

MolecularMoves
Type

Block

Description

Move molecules as rigid bodies in addition to normal atomic moves.

Enabled
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Enable molecular moves

Description

Enable moving molecules as rigid bodies based on net forces and torques. Ordinary per-atom displacements will then be based on residual atomic forces.

RotationStepAngle
Type

Float

Default value

0.1

Unit

Radian

Description

Maximum allowed angle of rotation of each molecule in one fbMC step.

TranslationStepLength
Type

Float

Default value

0.1

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Maximum allowed displacement of each molecule in each Cartesian coordinate in one fbMC step.

NSteps
Type

Integer

GUI name

Number of steps

Description

Number of fbMC steps to perform on every invocation of the procedure.

PrintFreq
Type

Integer

GUI name

Printing frequency

Description

Print current thermodynamic properties to the output every N fbMC steps. This defaults to the PrintFreq set in the Trajectory block. Setting this to zero disables printing fbMC steps.

StartStep
Type

Integer

Default value

1

Description

First step at which the fbMC procedure may run.

StepLength
Type

Float

Default value

0.1

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Maximum allowed displacement of the lightest atom in the system in each Cartesian coordinate in one fbMC step.

StopStep
Type

Integer

Default value

0

Description

Last step at which the fbMC procedure may run. If unset or zero, there is no limit.

Temperature
Type

Float

Unit

Kelvin

Description

Temperature used for fbMC.

Molecules
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of the molecular composition analysis enabled by the Properties%Molecules block.

AdsorptionSupportRegion
Type

String

GUI name

Adsorption support region

Description

Select region that will represent a support for adsorption analysis. Adsorbed molecules will receive an ‘(ads)’ suffix after name of the element bonded to the support. Such elements will be listed separate from atoms of the same element not bonded to the support, for example, HOH(ads) for a water molecule bonded to a surface via one of its H atoms.

BondOrderCutoff
Type

Float

Default value

0.5

Description

Bond order cutoff for analysis of the molecular composition. Bonds with bond order smaller than this value are neglected when determining the molecular composition.

NEB
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of the Nudged Elastic Band optimization.

Climbing
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

GUI name

Climb highest image to TS

Description

Use the climbing image algorithm to drive the highest image to the transition state.

ClimbingThreshold
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Hartree/Bohr

GUI name

CI force threshold

Description

Climbing image force threshold. If ClimbingThreshold > 0 and the max perpendicular force component is above the threshold then no climbing is performed at this step. This entry can be used to get a better approximation for the reaction path before starting the search for the transition state. A typical value is 0.01 Hartree/Bohr.

Images
Type

Integer

Default value

8

GUI name

Number of images

Description

Number of NEB images (not counting the chain ends). Using more images will result in a smoother reaction path and can help with convergence problems, but it will also increase the computation time.

InterpolateInternal
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

GUI name

Interpolate in Internal coordinates

Description

The initial NEB image geometries are calculated by interpolating between the initial and the final state. By default, for non-periodic systems the interpolation is performed in Internal coordinates but the user can choose to do it in the Cartesian ones. For periodic systems the interpolation is always done in Cartesian coordinates.

InterpolateShortest
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

GUI name

Interpolate across cell boundary

Description

Allow interpolation across periodic cell boundaries. Set to false if an atom is intended to move more than half across the simulation box during reaction.

Iterations
Type

Integer

GUI name

Maximum number of iterations

Description

Maximum number of NEB iterations. The default value depends on the number of degrees of freedom (number of images, atoms, periodic dimensions).

Jacobian
Type

Float

GUI name

Jacobian value

Description

Scaling factor used to convert the lattice strain to a NEB coordinate value. Default value: sqrt(N)*(V/N)^(1/d), where V - lattice volume (area for 2D, length for 1D), N - number of atoms, and d - number of periodic dimensions.

LoadPath
Type

Block

Description

Provide details about the trajectory to get the initial NEB path from. PESScan and NEB trajectories are supported. Only the last geometry for each point on the trajectory is considered.

File
Type

String

GUI name

Initial path file

Description

Provide an ams.rkf file to load the initial path from. All geometries of this calculation, including initial and final, will be taken from the History section of the file. Note that for a PESScan it should be a 1D path.

Geometries
Type

Integer List

GUI name

Raw geometry indices

Description

Raw indices of the geometries from the History section. By default the last geometry of each path point is used.

Points
Type

Integer List

GUI name

Path points

Description

By default the whole path is used, which may sometimes be not desirable. For example when a PESScan revealed multiple barriers. In this case one can specify indices of the path points to be used. The last geometry of the specified path point will be loaded.

MapAtomsToCell
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

GUI name

Map atoms to cell

Description

Translate atoms to the [-0.5,0.5] cell before every step. This option cannot be disabled for SS-NEB.

OldTangent
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Use old tangent

Description

Turn on the old central difference tangent.

OptimizeEnds
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

GUI name

Optimize reactants/products

Description

Start the NEB with optimization of the reactant and product geometries.

OptimizeLattice
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Optimize lattice

Description

Turn on the solid-state NEB (SS-NEB).

Parallel
Type

Block

Description

Options for double parallelization, which allows to split the available processor cores into groups working through all the available tasks in parallel, resulting in a better parallel performance. The keys in this block determine how to split the available processor cores into groups working in parallel.

nCoresPerGroup
Type

Integer

GUI name

Cores per group

Description

Number of cores in each working group.

nGroups
Type

Integer

GUI name

Number of groups

Description

Total number of processor groups. This is the number of tasks that will be executed in parallel.

nNodesPerGroup
Type

Integer

GUI name

Nodes per group

Description

Number of nodes in each group. This option should only be used on homogeneous compute clusters, where all used compute nodes have the same number of processor cores.

ReOptimizeEnds
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Re-optimize reactants/products

Description

Re-optimize reactant and product geometries upon restart.

Restart
Type

String

GUI name

Restart from

Description

Provide an ams.rkf file from a previous NEB calculation to restart from. It can be an unfinished NEB calculation or one performed with different engine parameters.

Skewness
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

GUI name

Skewness

Description

Degree of how much images are shifted towards or away from the TS, which may help tackle problems with a long reaction path (for example involving a loose adsorption complex) without needing too many images. A value greater than 1 will make sure that images are concentrated near the transition state. The optimal value depends on the path length, the number of images (larger [Skewness] may be needed for a longer path and fewer images). Technically [Skewness] is equal to the ratio between the optimized distances to the lower and the higher neighbor image on the path.

Spring
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Unit

Hartree/Bohr^2

GUI name

Spring value

Description

Spring force constant in atomic units.

NormalModes
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of a normal modes calculation.

BlockDisplacements
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of a Block Normal Modes (a.k.a. Mobile Block Hessian, or MBH) calculation.

AngularDisplacement
Type

Float

Default value

0.5

Unit

Degree

Description

Relative step size for rotational degrees of freedom during Block Normal Modes finite difference calculations. It will be scaled with the characteristic block size.

BlockAtoms
Type

Integer List

Recurring

True

Description

List of atoms belonging to a block. You can have multiple BlockAtoms.

BlockRegion
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

The region to to be considered a block. You can have multiple BlockRegions, also in combination with BlockAtoms.

Parallel
Type

Block

Description

Configuration for how the individual displacements are calculated in parallel.

nCoresPerGroup
Type

Integer

Description

Number of cores in each working group.

nGroups
Type

Integer

Description

Total number of processor groups. This is the number of tasks that will be executed in parallel.

nNodesPerGroup
Type

Integer

GUI name

Cores per task

Description

Number of nodes in each group. This option should only be used on homogeneous compute clusters, where all used compute nodes have the same number of processor cores.

RadialDisplacement
Type

Float

Default value

0.005

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Step size for translational degrees of freedom during Block Normal Modes finite difference calculations.

Displacements
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Cartesian

Options

[Cartesian, Symmetric, Block]

GUI name

Displacements

Description

Type of displacements. In case of symmetric displacements it is possible to choose only the modes that have non-zero IR or Raman intensity. Block displacements take rigid blocks into account.

Hessian
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Auto

Options

[Auto, Analytical, Numerical]

Description

Default Auto means that if possible by the engine the Hessian will be calculated analytically, else the Hessian will be calculated numerically by AMS.

ReScanFreqRange
Type

Float List

Default value

[-10000000.0, 10.0]

Unit

cm-1

Recurring

True

GUI name

Re-scan range

Description

Specifies a frequency range within which all modes will be scanned. 2 numbers: an upper and a lower bound.

ReScanModes
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

GUI name

Re-scan modes

Description

Whether or not to scan imaginary modes after normal modes calculation has concluded.

SymmetricDisplacements
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of the calculation of the frequencies and normal modes of vibration in symmetric displacements.

Type
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

All

Options

[All, Infrared, Raman, InfraredAndRaman]

GUI name

Symm Frequencies

Description

For symmetric molecules it is possible to choose only the modes that have non-zero IR or Raman intensity (or either of them) by symmetry. In order to calculate the Raman intensities the Raman property must be requested.

NumericalDifferentiation
Type

Block

Description

Define options for numerical differentiations, that is the numerical calculation of gradients, Hessian and the stress tensor for periodic systems.

NuclearStepSize
Type

Float

Default value

0.005

Unit

Bohr

Description

Step size for numerical nuclear gradient calculation.

Parallel
Type

Block

Description

Options for double parallelization, which allows to split the available processor cores into groups working through all the available tasks in parallel, resulting in a better parallel performance. The keys in this block determine how to split the available processor cores into groups working in parallel.

nCoresPerGroup
Type

Integer

GUI name

Cores per group

Description

Number of cores in each working group.

nGroups
Type

Integer

GUI name

Number of groups

Description

Total number of processor groups. This is the number of tasks that will be executed in parallel.

nNodesPerGroup
Type

Integer

GUI name

Nodes per group

Description

Number of nodes in each group. This option should only be used on homogeneous compute clusters, where all used compute nodes have the same number of processor cores.

StrainStepSize
Type

Float

Default value

0.001

Description

Step size (relative) for numerical stress tensor calculation.

NumericalPhonons
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of a numerical phonons calculation.

AutomaticBZPath
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

GUI name

Automatic BZ path

Description

If True, compute the phonon dispersion curve for the standard path through the Brillouin zone. If False, you must specify your custom path in the [BZPath] block.

BZPath
Type

Block

Description

If [NumericalPhonons%AutomaticBZPath] is false, the phonon dispersion curve will be computed for the user-defined path in the [BZPath] block. You should define the vertices of your path in fractional coordinates (with respect to the reciprocal lattice vectors) in the [Path] sub-block. If you want to make a jump in your path (i.e. have a discontinuous path), you need to specify a new [Path] sub-block.

Path
Type

Non-standard block

Recurring

True

Description

A section of a k space path. This block should contain multiple lines, and in each line you should specify one vertex of the path in fractional coordinates. Optionally, you can add text labels for your vertices at the end of each line.

BornEffCharge
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Description

Input option to give the Born effective charges of the species.

DielectricConst
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Description

Input option to give the static dielectric constant of the species.

DoubleSided
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

By default a two-sided (or quadratic) numerical differentiation of the nuclear gradients is used. Using a single-sided (or linear) numerical differentiation is computationally faster but much less accurate. Note: In older versions of the program only the single-sided option was available.

Interpolation
Type

Integer

Default value

100

Description

Use interpolation to generate smooth phonon plots.

NDosEnergies
Type

Integer

Default value

1000

Description

Nr. of energies used to calculate the phonon DOS used to integrate thermodynamic properties. For fast compute engines this may become time limiting and smaller values can be tried.

Parallel
Type

Block

Description

Options for double parallelization, which allows to split the available processor cores into groups working through all the available tasks in parallel, resulting in a better parallel performance. The keys in this block determine how to split the available processor cores into groups working in parallel.

nCoresPerGroup
Type

Integer

GUI name

Cores per group

Description

Number of cores in each working group.

nGroups
Type

Integer

GUI name

Number of groups

Description

Total number of processor groups. This is the number of tasks that will be executed in parallel.

nNodesPerGroup
Type

Integer

GUI name

Nodes per group

Description

Number of nodes in each group. This option should only be used on homogeneous compute clusters, where all used compute nodes have the same number of processor cores.

StepSize
Type

Float

Default value

0.04

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Step size to be taken to obtain the force constants (second derivative) from the analytical gradients numerically.

SuperCell
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Used for the phonon run. The super lattice is expressed in the lattice vectors. Most people will find a diagonal matrix easiest to understand.

PESExploration
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of the automated PES exploration methods.

BasinHopping
Type

Block

Description

Configures the details of the Basin Hopping subtask.

DisplaceAtomsInRegion
Type

String

Default value

Description

If you specify a region name here, only the atoms belonging to this region will be displaced during the basin hopping procedure. For more details on regions, see the documentation on the System definition.

Displacement
Type

Float

Default value

0.5

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Displacement in each degree of freedom.

PushApartDistance
Type

Float

Default value

0.4

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Push atoms apart until no atoms are closer than this distance. This criterion is enforced for the initial structure and all those generated by random displacements.

Steps
Type

Integer

Default value

20

Description

Number of displace & optimize Monte-Carlo steps to take.

BindingSites
Type

Block

Description

Options related to the calculation of binding sites.

Calculate
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Calculate binding sites at the end of a job. Not needed for Binding Sites job.

DistanceDifference
Type

Float

Default value

-1.0

Unit

Angstrom

Description

If the distance between two mapped binding-sites is larger than this threshold, the binding-sites are considered different. If not specified, its value will set equal to [PESExploration%StructureComparison%DistanceDifference]

MaxCoordinationShellsForLabels
Type

Integer

Default value

3

Description

The binding site labels are given based on the coordination numbers of shells in the reference region, using the following format: N<int><int>…, e.g., the label ‘N334’ means 3 atoms in the first coordination shell, 3 in the second one, and 4 in the third one. This parameter controls the maximum number of shells to include.

NeighborCutoff
Type

Float

Default value

-1.0

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Atoms within this distance of each other are considered neighbors for the calculation of the binding sites. If not specified, its value will set equal to [PESExploration%StructureComparison%NeighborCutoff]

ReferenceRegion
Type

String

Default value

Description

Defines the region that is considered as the reference for binding sites detection. Binding sites are projected on this region using the geometry from the reference system. If not specified, its value will set equal to [PESExploration%StatesAlignment%ReferenceRegion]

CalculateFragments
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Must be used together with an adsorbent set as the StatesAlignment%ReferenceRegion. Runs a final calculation of the adsorbate and adsorbent (marked by the ReferenceRegion) individually. The fragmented state is included in the energy landscape.

Debug
Type

Block

Description

???.

DynamicSeedStates
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Whether subsequent expeditions may start from states discovered by previous expeditions. This should lead to a more comprehensive exploration of the potential energy surface. Disabling this will focus the PES exploration around the initial seed states.

Dynamics
Type

Block

Description

???.

Andersen
Type

Block

Description

???.

Alpha
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Description

???.

CollisionPeriod
Type

Float

Default value

100.0

Description

???.

Langevin
Type

Block

Description

???.

Friction
Type

Float

Default value

0.01

Description

???.

Nose
Type

Block

Description

???.

Mass
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Description

???.

Thermostat
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

none

Options

[andersen, nose_hoover, langevin, none]

Description

???.

Time
Type

Float

Default value

1000.0

Description

???.

TimeStep
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Description

???.

FiniteDifference
Type

Float

Default value

0.0026458861

Unit

Angstrom

Description

The finite difference distance to use for Dimer, Hessian, Lanczos, and optimization methods.

Hessian
Type

Block

Description

???.

AtomList
Type

String

Default value

all

Description

???.

ZeroFreqValue
Type

Float

Default value

1e-06

Description

???.

Job
Type

Multiple Choice

Options

[ProcessSearch, BasinHopping, SaddleSearch, LandscapeRefinement, BindingSites]

Description

Specify the PES exploration job to perform.

LandscapeRefinement
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of the energy landscape refinement job.

IgnoreFinalPESPointCharacter
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

At the end of the energy landscape refinement job, each state is assigned a PES point character (MIN or TS) based on its vibrational frequencies before being included in the final database. States are only added if the PES point character after refinement remains unchanged. However, states are added without verifying if this option is true. Nonetheless, vibrational frequencies are calculated and stored for future analysis. This option is especially useful when using computationally demanding engines. Because in those cases, precision and computational effort must be balanced, resulting in significant vibrational frequencies inaccuracies.

RunInitialSinglePoints
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

If it is true, just after loading the energy landscape to refine, the single energy point computations are disabled. Be aware that if you enable this, the output file’s ‘Initial Energy Landscape’ section will display incorrect states’ energy values. If the engine requires too much processing power, this option can help you save a small amount of time.

LoadEnergyLandscape
Type

Block

Description

Options related to the loading of an Energy Landscape from a previous calculation.

KeepOnly
Type

Integer List

GUI name

List of states to keep

Description

Upon loading the Energy Landscape, only keep the states specified here. The states should be specified via a list of integers referring to the indices of the states you want to keep.

Path
Type

String

GUI name

Load energy landscape from

Description

The path to load an energy landscape from. Accepts either AMS result folders, or .con files in the native EON format (only available through the text input file).

Remove
Type

Integer List

GUI name

List of states to remove

Description

Upon loading the Energy Landscape, remove (i.e. do not load) the states specified here. The states should be specified via a list of integers referring to the indices of the states you want to remove (i.e. the states you don’t want to load).

SeedStates
Type

Integer List

GUI name

List of seed states

Description

By default when you start a new PES Exploration from a loaded Energy Landscape, expeditions can start from any of the loaded minima. By using this input option, you can instruct the program to only use some of the states as ‘expedition starting point’. The states that serve as ‘expedition starting points’ should be specified via a list of integers referring to the indices of the states.

NegativeEigenvalueTolerance
Type

Float

Default value

-0.0005

Unit

Hartree/Bohr^2

Description

The threshold in Hessian eigenvalue below which a mode is considered imaginary, i.e. indicating a transition state. This is a small negative number, as very small negative eigenvalues may be due to numerical noise on an essentially flat PES and do not indicate true transition states. We need a more flexible value for this parameter in PESExploration because the high computational cost of the task typically forces us to reduce the engine precision, which increases the noise in the vibrational frequencies evaluation. [PESPointCharacter%NegativeEigenvalueTolerance] is overridden by this parameter.

NudgedElasticBand
Type

Block

Description

Options for the Nudged Elastic Band (NEB) method.

ClimbingImageMethod
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Use the climbing image algorithm to drive the highest image to the transition state.

ConvergedForce
Type

Float

Default value

-1.0

Unit

eV/Angstrom

Description

Convergence threshold for nuclear gradients. Note: Special value of -1.0 means using the same convergence criterion as the PES explorer’s geometry optimizer.

Images
Type

Integer

Default value

5

Description

Number of NEB images between the two endpoints.

MaxIterations
Type

Integer

Default value

500

Description

Maximum number of NEB iterations.

OldTangent
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Use the old central difference tangent.

Spring
Type

Float

Default value

5.0

Unit

eV/Ang^2

Description

Spring force constant.

NumExpeditions
Type

Integer

Default value

1

Description

Sets the number of subsequent expeditions our job will consist of. Larger values result in a more comprehensive exploration of the potential energy surface, but will take more computational time.

NumExplorers
Type

Integer

Default value

1

Description

Sets the number of independent PES explorers dispatched as part of each expedition. Larger values will result in a more comprehensive exploration of the potential energy surface, but will take more computational time. By default an appropriate number of explorers are executed in parallel.

OptTSMethod
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

SaddleSearch

Options

[SaddleSearch, NudgedElasticBand]

Description

When the full set of states in the energy landscape are optimized (see PESExploration%Job = GeometryOptimization), transition states can be optimized using either SaddleSearch or NudgedElasticBand methods. SaddleSearch uses information only from the current geometry of the TS; contrary, NudgedElasticBand ignores the current geometry and runs a Nudged-Elastic-Band calculation trying to connect the associated reactants and products if they are available.

Optimizer
Type

Block

Description

Configures the details of the geometry optimizers used by the PES explorers.

ConvergedForce
Type

Float

Default value

0.005

Unit

eV/Angstrom

Description

Convergence threshold for nuclear gradients.

MaxIterations
Type

Integer

Default value

400

Description

Maximum number of iterations allowed for optimizations.

Method
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

CG

Options

[CG, QM, LBFGS, FIRE, SD]

Description

Select the method for geometry optimizations.

Parallel
Type

Block

Description

Options for double parallelization, which allows to split the available processor cores into groups working through all the available tasks in parallel, resulting in a better parallel performance. The keys in this block determine how to split the available processor cores into groups working in parallel.

nCoresPerGroup
Type

Integer

GUI name

Cores per group

Description

Number of cores in each working group.

nGroups
Type

Integer

GUI name

Number of groups

Description

Total number of processor groups. This is the number of tasks that will be executed in parallel.

nNodesPerGroup
Type

Integer

GUI name

Nodes per group

Description

Number of nodes in each group. This option should only be used on homogeneous compute clusters, where all used compute nodes have the same number of processor cores.

ParallelReplica
Type

Block

Description

???.

DephaseLoopMax
Type

Integer

Default value

5

Description

???.

DephaseLoopStop
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

???.

DephaseTime
Type

Float

Default value

1000.0

Description

???.

PostTransitionTime
Type

Float

Default value

1000.0

Description

???.

RefineTransition
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

???.

StateCheckInterval
Type

Float

Default value

1000.0

Description

???.

StateSaveInterval
Type

Float

Default value

-1.0

Description

???.

StopAfterTransition
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

???.

Prefactor
Type

Block

Description

???.

Rate
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

HTST

Options

[HTST, QQHTST]

Description

Calculates the pre-exponential factors of the Reaction Rates using either Harmonic Transition State Theory (HTST) or quasi-quantum HTST (QQHTST).

ProcessSearch
Type

Block

Description

Input options specific to the process search procedure.

MinimizationOffset
Type

Float

Default value

0.2

Description

After a saddle is found, images are placed on either side of the saddle along the mode and minimized to ensure that the saddle is connected to the original minimum and to locate the product state. MinimizationOffset is the distance those images are displaced from the saddle.

RandomSeed
Type

Integer

Description

Number used to initialize both the EON clients random number generators as well as the AMS global RNG. The latter is normally initialized with the RNGSeed keyword at the root level. Should be used by developers only. May or may not help to make more reproducible regression tests …

SaddleSearch
Type

Block

Description

Configuration for the Saddle Search procedure (used in SaddleSearch and ProcessSearch Jobs).

ConvergedForce
Type

Float

Default value

-1.0

Unit

eV/Angstrom

Description

Convergence threshold for nuclear gradients. Note: Special value of -1.0 means using the same convergence criterion as the PES explorer’s geometry optimizer.

DisplaceAtomsInRegion
Type

String

Default value

Description

A string corresponding to the name of a region. When performing the initial random displacement, only displace atoms in the specified region. This can help the Saddle Search procedure to start off in a desired region of the PES.

DisplaceMagnitude
Type

Float

Default value

0.1

Unit

Angstrom

Description

The standard deviation of the Gaussian displacement in each degree of freedom for the selected atoms.

MaxEnergy
Type

Float

Default value

20.0

Unit

eV

Description

The energy (relative to the starting point of the saddle search) at which a saddle search explorer considers the search bad and terminates it.

MaxIterations
Type

Integer

Default value

400

Description

Maximum number of iterations for each saddle search run.

MinEnergyBarrier
Type

Float

Default value

0.001

Unit

eV

Description

Minimum energy barrier to accept a new transition state.

MinModeMethod
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

dimer

Options

[dimer, lanczos]

Description

The minimum-mode following method to use.

StatesAlignment
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of how the energy landscape configurations are aligned respect to the main chemical system [System].

DistanceDifference
Type

Float

Default value

-1.0

Unit

Angstrom

Description

If the distance between two mapped atoms is larger than this threshold, the configuration is considered not aligned. If not specified, its value will set equal to [PESExploration%StructureComparison%DistanceDifference]

ReferenceRegion
Type

String

Default value

Description

Defines the region that is considered as the reference for alignments. Atoms outside this region are ignored in the alignments.

StructureComparison
Type

Block

Description

Settings for structure comparison.

CheckRotation
Type

Bool

Description

Rotates the system optimally before comparing structures. The default is to do this only for molecular systems when there are no fixed atom constraints.

CheckSymmetry
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Considers that two systems are equal if they are equivalent by symmetry.

DistanceDifference
Type

Float

Default value

0.1

Unit

Angstrom

Description

If the distance between two mapped atoms is larger than this threshold, the two configurations are considered different structures.

EnergyDifference
Type

Float

Default value

0.01

Unit

eV

Description

If the energy difference between two configurations is larger than this threshold, the two configurations are considered to be different structures.

IndistinguishableAtoms
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

If yes, the order of the atoms does not affect the structural comparison. Atoms of the same element are then indistinguishable.

NeighborCutoff
Type

Float

Default value

3.3

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Atoms within this distance of each other are considered neighbors.

RemoveTranslation
Type

Bool

Description

Translates the system optimally before comparing structures. The default is to do this only when there are no fixed atom constraints.

Temperature
Type

Float

Default value

300.0

Unit

Kelvin

Description

The temperature that the job will run at. This may be used in different ways depending on the job, e.g. acceptance probabilities for Monte-Carlo based jobs, thermostatting for dynamics based jobs, kinetic prefactors for jobs that find transition states. Some jobs may not use this temperature at all.

WriteHistory
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Converged

Options

[None, Converged, All]

Description

When to write the molecular geometry (and possibly other properties) to the history on the ams.rkf file. The default is to only write the converged geometries to the history. Can be changed to write no frames at all to the history, or write all frames (should only be used when testing because of the performance impact). Note that for parallel calculations, only the first group of processes writes to ams.rkf.

PESPointCharacter
Type

Block

Description

Options for the characterization of PES points.

Displacement
Type

Float

Default value

0.04

Description

Controls the size of the displacements used for numerical differentiation: The displaced geometries are calculated by taking the original coordinates and adding the mass-weighted mode times the reduced mass of the mode times the value of this keyword.

NegativeEigenvalueTolerance
Type

Float

Default value

-0.0001

Unit

Hartree/Bohr^2

Description

The threshold in Hessian eigenvalue below which a mode is considered imaginary, i.e. indicating a transition state. This is a small negative number, as very small negative eigenvalues may be due to numerical noise on an essentially flat PES and do not indicate true transition states.

NumberOfModes
Type

Integer

Default value

2

Description

The number of (lowest) eigenvalues that should be checked.

Tolerance
Type

Float

Default value

0.016

Description

Convergence tolerance for residual in iterative Davidson diagonalization.

PESScan
Type

Block

Description

Configures the details of the potential energy surface scanning task.

CalcPropertiesAtPESPoints
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Whether to perform an additional calculation with properties on all the sampled points of the PES. If this option is enabled AMS will produce a separate engine output file for every sampled PES point.

FillUnconvergedGaps
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

After the initial pass over the PES, restart the unconverged points from converged neighboring points.

ScanCoordinate
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

Specifies a coordinate along which the potential energy surface is scanned. If this block contains multiple entries, these coordinates will be varied and scanned together as if they were one. Note that there can be only one ScanCoordinate containing a lattice scan in any PES scan job.

Angle
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Scan the angle between three atoms. Three atom indices followed by two real numbers delimiting the transit range in degrees.

CellVolumeRange
Type

Float List

Unit

Angstrom^3

Description

Two numbers for the initial and final cell volume. The cell is scaled isotropically between these values. Can not be used together with any other coordinate within the same ScanCoordinate block.

CellVolumeScalingRange
Type

Float List

Description

Two scaling factors for the initial and final cell volume. A value of ‘0.9 1.1’ would result in an isotropic scaling between 90% and 110% of the cell volume of the input system. Can not be used together with any other coordinate within the same ScanCoordinate block.

Coordinate
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Scan a particular coordinate of an atom. Atom index followed by (x|y|z) followed by two real numbers delimiting the transit range.

DifDist
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Scan the difference distance between two pairs of atoms, R(12)-R(34). Four atom indices followed by two real numbers delimiting the transit range in Angstrom.

Dihedral
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Scan the dihedral angle between four atoms. Four atom indices followed by two real numbers delimiting the transit angle in degrees.

Distance
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Scan the distance between two atoms. Two atom indices followed by two real numbers delimiting the transit distance in Angstrom.

FromLattice
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Up to three lattice vectors to start the scan at. Has to be used in combination with the ToLattice keyword and no other coordinate within the same ScanCoordinate block. Unit can be specified in the header. Default unit is Angstrom.

FromStrainVoigt
Type

Float List

Description

The elements of the initial lattice strain in Voigt notation. One should specify 6 numbers for 3D periodic system (order: xx,yy,zz,yz,xz,xy), 3 numbers for 2D periodic systems (order: xx,yy,xy) or 1 number for 1D periodic systems. Has to be used in combination with the ToStrainVoigt keyword and no other coordinate within the same ScanCoordinate block.

LatticeARange
Type

Float List

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Scans the length of the first lattice vector. Can be combined with the LatticeBRange and LatticeCRange keywords, but no other coordinates within the same ScanCoordinate.

LatticeBRange
Type

Float List

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Scans the length of the second lattice vector. Can be combined with the LatticeARange and LatticeCRange keyword, but no other coordinates within the same ScanCoordinate..

LatticeCRange
Type

Float List

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Scans the length of the third lattice vector. Can be combined with the LatticeARange and LatticeBRange keyword, but no other coordinates within the same ScanCoordinate..

SumDist
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Scan the sum of distances between two pairs of atoms, R(12)+R(34). Four atom indices followed by two real numbers delimiting the transit range in Angstrom.

ToLattice
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Up to three lattice vectors to end the scan at. Unit can be specified in the header. Default unit is Angstrom.

ToStrainVoigt
Type

Float List

Description

The elements of the final lattice strain in Voigt notation. One should specify 6 numbers for 3D periodic system (order: xx,yy,zz,yz,xz,xy), 3 numbers for 2D periodic systems (order: xx,yy,xy) or 1 number for 1D periodic systems.

nPoints
Type

Integer

Default value

10

Description

The number of points along the scanned coordinate. Must be greater or equal 2.

Print
Type

Block

Description

This block controls the printing of additional information to stdout.

Timers
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

None

Options

[None, Normal, Detail, TooMuchDetail]

Description

Printing timing details to see how much time is spend in which part of the code.

Properties
Type

Block

Description

Configures which AMS level properties to calculate for SinglePoint calculations or other important geometries (e.g. at the end of an optimization).

BondOrders
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Requests the engine to calculate bond orders. For MM engines these might just be the defined bond orders that go into the force-field, while for QM engines, this might trigger a bond order analysis based on the electronic structure. For engines that do not have a bond order analysis method, a bond guessing algorithm will be used. See also the input options in the BondOrders block.

Charges
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Requests the engine to calculate the atomic charges.

DipoleGradients
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Requests the engine to calculate the nuclear gradients of the electric dipole moment of the molecule. This can only be requested for non-periodic systems.

DipoleMoment
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Requests the engine to calculate the electric dipole moment of the molecule. This can only be requested for non-periodic systems.

ElasticTensor
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Calculate the elastic tensor.

GSES
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Requests the engine to calculate the gradients of ground to excited state properties.

Gradients
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Nuclear gradients

Description

Calculate the nuclear gradients.

Hessian
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Whether or not to calculate the Hessian.

Molecules
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Requests an analysis of the molecular components of a system, based on the bond orders calculated by the engine.

NormalModes
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Frequencies

Description

Calculate the frequencies and normal modes of vibration, and for molecules also the corresponding IR intensities if the engine supports the calculation of dipole moments.

OrbitalsInfo
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Basic molecular orbitals information: orbital energies, occupations, HOMO, LUMO and HOMO-LUMO gap.

Other
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Other (engine specific) properties. Details are configured in the engine block.

PESPointCharacter
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Characterize PES point

Description

Determine whether the sampled PES point is a minimum or saddle point. Note that for large systems this does not entail the calculation of the full Hessian and can therefore be used to quickly confirm the success of a geometry optimization or transition state search.

Phonons
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Calculate the phonons (for periodic systems).

Polarizability
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Requests the engine to calculate the polarizability tensor of the system.

Raman
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Requests calculation of Raman intensities for vibrational normal modes.

SelectedRegionForHessian
Type

String

GUI name

Hessian only for

Description

Compute the Hessian matrix elements only for the atoms in a particular region. If not specified, the Hessian will be computed for all atoms.

StressTensor
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Stress tensor

Description

Calculate the stress tensor.

VCD
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Requests calculation of VCD for vibrational normal modes.

VROA
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Requests calculation of VROA for vibrational normal modes.

Raman
Type

Block

Description

Configures details of the Raman or VROA calculation.

FreqRange
Type

Float List

Unit

cm-1

Recurring

True

GUI name

Frequency range

Description

Specifies a frequency range within which all modes will be scanned. 2 numbers: an upper and a lower bound.

IncidentFrequency
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

eV

Description

Frequency of incident light.

LifeTime
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

hartree

Description

Specify the resonance peak width (damping) in Hartree units. Typically the lifetime of the excited states is approximated with a common phenomenological damping parameter. Values are best obtained by fitting absorption data for the molecule, however, the values do not vary a lot between similar molecules, so it is not hard to estimate values. A typical value is 0.004 Hartree.

Replay
Type

Block

Description

Configures the details of the Replay task.

File
Type

String

GUI name

Restart from

Description

Provide an ams.rkf file (or a .results folder) from a previously run job to replay. The file needs to contain a History section.

Frames
Type

Integer List

Description

List of frames from the History section to recompute. If not specified the recomputed frames are determined automatically based on the task of the job that is being replayed: PES scans and NEB calculations will only have the converged points replayed, while all other tasks will have all frames recomputed. Specifying the frames to recompute in the input is probably only useful when replaying trajectories from MolecularDynamics calculations.

StoreAllResultFiles
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

If this option is enabled AMS will produce a separate engine output file for every replayed frame. While basic properties like energy, gradients, stress tensor, etc. are stored anyway on the History section in the AMS driver output file (if they were requested in the Properties block), engine specific properties (e.g. excitations energies from ADF) will only be available if the full result files are stored.

Restraints
Type

Block

Description

The Restraints block allows to add soft constraints to the system. A restraint is a potential energy function (a spring) attached to a certain coordinate, for example, an interatomic distance, with its minimum at the specified optimal value. A restraint is defined using one or two parameters: the ForceConstant and, for some types, the F(Inf) value. The ForceConstant parameter corresponds to second derivative of the restraint potential energy d2V(x)/dx^2 for any x (harmonic restraints) or only at at x=0 (other restraints). Here, x is a deviation from the restraint’s optimal value.

Angle
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Specify three atom indices i j k followed by an angle in degrees and, optionally, by the ForceConstant (default is 0.3 in a.u.), profile type and F(Inf) (in a.u.). This restraint will try to keep the i-j-k angle at the given value. For periodic systems this restraint follows the minimum image convention.

DifDist
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Specify four atom indices i j k l followed by the distance in Angstrom and, optionally, by the ForceConstant (default is 1.0 in a.u.), profile type and F(Inf) (in a.u.). This restraint will try to keep the difference R(ij)-R(kl) at the given value. For periodic systems this restraint follows the minimum image convention.

Dihedral
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Specify four atom indices i j k l followed by an angle in degrees and, optionally, by the ForceConstant (default is 0.1 in a.u.), profile type and F(Inf) (in a.u.). This restraint will try to keep the i-j-k-l dihedral angle at the given value. For periodic systems this restraint follows the minimum image convention.

Distance
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Specify two atom indices followed by the distance in Angstrom and, optionally, by the ForceConstant (default is 1.0 in a.u.), profile type and F(Inf) (in a.u.). This restraint will try to keep the distance between the two specified atoms at the given value. For periodic systems this restraint follows the minimum image convention.

FInfinity
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

GUI name

Default F(inf)

Description

Specify the default asymptotic value for the restraint force for the Hyperbolic and Erf profiles, in Hartree/Bohr or Hartree/radian. A per-restraint value can be specified after the profile type on the corresponding restraint line.

Profile
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Harmonic

Options

[Harmonic, Hyperbolic, Erf, GaussianWell]

GUI name

Default restraint profile

Description

Select the default type of restraint profile. The harmonic profile is most suitable for geometry optimizations but may result is very large forces that can be problematic in molecular dynamic. For MD simulations the Hyperbolic or Erf may be more suitable because the restraint force is bounded by a user-defined value. A per-restraint profile type can be specified after the ForceConstant value on the corresponding restraint line.

SumDist
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

Specify four atom indices i j k l followed by the distance in Angstrom and, optionally, by the ForceConstant (default is 1.0 in a.u.), profile type and F(Inf) (in a.u.). This restraint will try to keep the sum R(ij)+R(kl) at the given value. For periodic systems this restraint follows the minimum image convention.

Units
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Default

Options

[Default, MD]

GUI name

Units

Description

Change units for energy, force and force constant values from the default (atomic units) to those often used in the MD community (based on kcal/mol and Angstrom). Units for the optimal distances are not affected and are always Angstrom.

RigidMotions
Type

Block

Description

Specify which rigid motions of the total system are allowed. An external field is not considered part of the system. Normally the automatic option is doing what you want. However this feature can be used as a means of geometry constraint.

AllowRotations
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Auto

Options

[Auto, None, All, X, Y, Z, XY, XZ, YZ]

Description

Which overall rotations of the system are allowed

AllowTranslations
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Auto

Options

[Auto, None, All, X, Y, Z, XY, XZ, YZ]

Description

Which overall transitions of the system are allowed

Tolerance
Type

Float

Default value

1e-06

Description

Tolerance for detecting linear molecules. A large value means larger deviation from linearity is permitted.

RNGSeed
Type

Integer List

Description

Initial seed for the (pseudo)random number generator. This should be omitted in most calculations to avoid introducing bias into the results. If this is unset, the generator will be seeded randomly from external sources of entropy. If you want to exactly reproduce an older calculation, set this to the numbers printed in its output.

SCMMatrix
Type

Block

Description

Technical settings for programs using the AMT matrix system. Currently this is only used by DFTB

DistributedMatrix
Type

Block

Description

Technical settings for Distributed matrices

ColBlockSize
Type

Integer

Default value

64

Description

See comment of RowBlockSize.

RowBlockSize
Type

Integer

Default value

64

Description

The matrix is divided into blocks of size RowBlockSize x ColBlockSize. The smaller the blocks the better the distribution, but at the expense of increased communication overhead

Type
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Elpa

Options

[Auto, Reference, ScaLapack, Elpa]

Description

Determines which implementation is used to support the AbstractMatrixType.

Symmetry
Type

Block

Description

Specifying details about the details of symmetry detection and usage.

SymmetrizeTolerance
Type

Float

Default value

0.05

Description

Tolerance used to detect symmetry in case symmetrize is requested.

Tolerance
Type

Float

Default value

1e-07

Description

Tolerance used to detect symmetry in the system.

System
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

Specification of the chemical system. For some applications more than one system may be present in the input. In this case, all systems except one must have a non-empty string ID specified after the System keyword. The system without an ID is considered the main one.

AllowCloseAtoms
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

If AllowCloseAtoms is set to False, the AMS driver will stop with an error if it detects almost-coinciding atomic coordinates. If set to True, the AMS driver will try to carry on with the calculation.

Atoms
Type

Non-standard block

Description

The atom types and coordinates. Unit can be specified in the header. Default unit is Angstrom.

BondOrders
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Defined bond orders. Each line should contain two atom indices, followed by the bond order (1, 1.5, 2, 3 for single, aromatic, double and triple bonds) and (optionally) the cell shifts for periodic systems. May be used by MM engines and for defining constraints. If the system is periodic and none of the bonds have the cell shift defined then AMS will attempt to determine them following the minimum image convention.

Charge
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

GUI name

Total charge

Description

The system’s total charge in atomic units.

ElectrostaticEmbedding
Type

Block

Description

Container for electrostatic embedding options, which can be combined.

ElectricField
Type

Float List

Unit

V/Angstrom

Description

External homogeneous electric field with three Cartesian components: ex, ey, ez, the default unit being V/Å. In atomic units: Hartree/(e bohr) = 14.39964 V/Angstrom; the relation to SI units is: 1 Hartree/(e bohr) = 5.14 … e11 V/m. Supported by the engines adf, band, dftb and mopac. For periodic systems the field may only have nonzero components orthogonal to the direction(s) of periodicity (i.e. for 1D periodic system the x-component of the electric field should be zero, while for 2D periodic systems both the x and y components should be zero. This options cannot be used for 3D periodic systems.

MultipolePotential
Type

Block

Description

External point charges (and dipoles).

ChargeModel
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

Point

Options

[Point, Gaussian]

Description

A multipole may be represented by a point (with a singular potential at its location) or by a spherical Gaussian distribution.

ChargeWidth
Type

Float

Default value

-1.0

Description

The width parameter in a.u. in case a Gaussian charge model is chosen. A negative value means that the width will be chosen automatically.

Coordinates
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Positions and values of the multipoles, one per line. Each line has the following format: x y z q, or x y z q µx µy µz. Here x, y, z are the coordinates in Å, q is the charge (in atomic units of charge) and µx, µy, µz are the (optional) dipole moment components (in atomic units, i.e. e*Bohr). Periodic systems are not supported.

FractionalCoords
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Whether the atomic coordinates in the Atoms block are given in fractional coordinates of the lattice vectors. Requires the presence of the Lattice block.

GeometryFile
Type

String

Description

Read the geometry from a file (instead of from Atoms and Lattice blocks). Supported formats: .xyz

GuessBonds
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Whether or not UFF bonds should be guessed.

Lattice
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Up to three lattice vectors. Unit can be specified in the header. Default unit is Angstrom.

LatticeStrain
Type

Float List

Description

Deform the input system by the specified strain. The strain elements are in Voigt notation, so one should specify 6 numbers for 3D periodic system (order: xx,yy,zz,yz,xz,xy), 3 numbers for 2D periodic systems (order: xx,yy,xy) or 1 number for 1D periodic systems.

LoadForceFieldAtomTypes
Type

Block

Description

This is a mechanism to set the ForceField.Type attribute in the input. This information is currently only used by the ForceField engine.

File
Type

String

Description

Name of the (kf) file. It needs to be the result of a forcefield calculation.

LoadForceFieldCharges
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

This is a mechanism to set the ForceField.Charge attribute in the input. This information is currently only used by the ForceField engine.

CheckGeometryRMSD
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Whether the geometry RMSD test should be performed, see MaxGeometryRMSD. Otherwise only basic tests are performed, such as number and atom types. Not doing the RMSD test allows you to load molecular charges in a periodic system.

File
Type

String

Description

Name of the (kf) file

MaxGeometryRMSD
Type

Float

Default value

0.1

Unit

Angstrom

Description

The geometry of the charge producing calculation is compared to the one of the region, and need to be the same within this tolerance.

Region
Type

String

Default value

*

Description

Region for which the charges should be loaded

Section
Type

String

Default value

AMSResults

Description

Section name of the kf file

Variable
Type

String

Default value

Charges

Description

Variable name of the kf file

MapAtomsToUnitCell
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

For periodic systems the atoms will be moved to the central cell.

ModifyAlternativeElements
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

When using alternative elements (using the nuclear_charge attribute) set the element to the nearest integer Z. If you specify an H atom with a nuclear_charge of 2.9 it is replaced by a Li atom with the same nuclear charge.

PerturbCoordinates
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Unit

Angstrom

Description

Perturb the atomic coordinates by adding random numbers between [-PerturbCoordinates,PerturbCoordinates] to each Cartesian component. This can be useful if you want to break the symmetry of your system (e.g. for a geometry optimization).

PerturbLattice
Type

Float

Default value

0.0

Description

Perturb the lattice vectors by applying random strain with matrix elements between [-PerturbLattice,PerturbLattice]. This can be useful if you want to deviate from an ideal symmetric geometry, for example if you look for a phase change due to high pressure.

RandomizeAtomOrder
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Whether or not the order of the atoms should be randomly changed. Intended for some technical testing purposes only. Does not work with bond information.

Region
Type

Block

Recurring

True

Description

Properties for each region specified in the Atoms block.

Properties
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Properties for each region specified in the Atoms block.

ShiftCoordinates
Type

Float List

Unit

Bohr

Description

Translate the atoms by the specified shift (three numbers).

SuperCell
Type

Integer List

Description

Create a supercell of the input system (only possible for periodic systems). The integer numbers represent the diagonal elements of the supercell transformation; you should specify as many numbers as lattice vectors (i.e. 1 number for 1D, 2 numbers for 2D and 3 numbers for 3D periodic systems).

SuperCellTrafo
Type

Integer List

Description

Create a supercell of the input system (only possible for periodic systems) \(\vec{a}_i' = \sum_j T_{ij} \vec{a}_j\). The integer numbers represent the supercell transformation \(T_{ij}\): 1 number for 1D PBC, 4 numbers for 2D PBC corresponding to a 2x2 matrix (order: (1,1),(1,2),(2,1),(2,2)) and 9 numbers for 3D PBC corresponding to a 3x3 matrix (order: (1,1),(1,2),(1,3),(2,1),(2,2),(2,3),(3,1),(3,2),(3,3)).

Symmetrize
Type

Bool

Default value

No

Description

Whether to symmetrize the input structure. This might also rototranslate the structure into a standard orientation. This will symmetrize the atomic coordinates to machine precision. Useful if the system is almost symmetric or to rototranslate a symmetric molecule into a standard orientation.

Symmetry
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

AUTO

Options

[AUTO, NOSYM, C(LIN), D(LIN), C(I), C(S), C(2), C(3), C(4), C(5), C(6), C(7), C(8), C(2V), C(3V), C(4V), C(5V), C(6V), C(7V), C(8V), C(2H), C(3H), C(4H), C(5H), C(6H), C(7H), C(8H), D(2), D(3), D(4), D(5), D(6), D(7), D(8), D(2D), D(3D), D(4D), D(5D), D(6D), D(7D), D(8D), D(2H), D(3H), D(4H), D(5H), D(6H), D(7H), D(8H), I, I(H), O, O(H), T, T(D), T(H), S(4), S(6), S(8)]

Description

Use (sub)symmetry with this Schoenflies symbol. Can only be used for molecules. Orientation should be correct for the (sub)symmetry. If used icw Symmetrize, the symmetrization will not reorient the molecule.

Task
Type

Multiple Choice

Options

[GCMC, GeometryOptimization, IRC, MolecularDynamics, NEB, PESExploration, PESScan, Replay, SinglePoint, TransitionStateSearch, VibrationalAnalysis]

Description

Specify the computational task to perform: • Single Point: keep geometry as is • Geometry Optimization: optimize the geometry • Transition State: search for the transition state • IRC: intrinsic reaction coordinate • PES Scan: scan the potential energy surface • NEB: Nudged elastic band for reaction path optimization • Vibrational Analysis: perform one of the analysis types selected on the options page • Molecular Dynamics: perform MD simulation • GCMC: Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulation • PES Exploration: automated potential energy surface exploration • Replay: recompute frames from the trajectory of a previously run job

Thermo
Type

Block

Description

Options for thermodynamic properties (assuming an ideal gas). The properties are computed for all specified temperatures.

LowFrequencyCorrector
Type

Block

Description

Options for the dampener-powered free rotor interpolator that corrects thermodynamic quantities for low frequencies. See DOI:10.1021/jp509921r and DOI:10.1002/chem.201200497.

Alpha
Type

Float

Default value

4.0

Description

The exponent term used in the dampener.

Frequency
Type

Float

Default value

100.0

Unit

cm-1

Description

The frequency around which the dampener interpolates between harmonic oscillator and free rotor quantities.

MomentOfInertia
Type

Float

Default value

1e-44

Unit

kg m^2

GUI name

Averaging Moment of Inertia

Description

The moment of inertia used to restrict entropy results for very small frequencies (generally around less than 1 cm-1).

Pressure
Type

Float

Default value

1.0

Unit

atm

Description

The pressure at which the thermodynamic properties are computed.

Temperatures
Type

Float List

Default value

[298.15]

Unit

Kelvin

Description

List of temperatures at which the thermodynamic properties will be calculated.

TransitionStateSearch
Type

Block

Description

Configures some details of the transition state search.

ModeToFollow
Type

Integer

Default value

1

Description

In case of Transition State Search, here you can specify the index of the normal mode to follow (1 is the mode with the lowest frequency).

ReactionCoordinate
Type

Block

Description

Specify components of the transition state reaction coordinate (TSRC) as a linear combination of internal coordinates (distances or angles).

Angle
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

The TSRC contains the valence angle between the given atoms. Three atom indices followed by the weight.

Coordinate
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

The TSRC contains Cartesian displacement of an atom: atom index followed by [x|y|z] and the weight.

Dihedral
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

The TSRC contains the dihedral angle between the given atoms. Four atom indices followed by the weight.

Distance
Type

String

Recurring

True

Description

The TSRC contains the distance between the given atoms. Two atom indices followed by the weight.

UseSymmetry
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

Whether to use the system’s symmetry in AMS. Symmetry is recognized within a tolerance as given in the Symmetry key.

VibrationalAnalysis
Type

Block

Description

Input data for all vibrational analysis utilities in the AMS driver.

AbsorptionSpectrum
Type

Block

Description

Settings related to the integration of the spectrum for vibronic tasks.

AbsorptionRange
Type

Float List

Default value

[-200.0, 4000.0]

Unit

cm-1

Recurring

True

Description

Specifies frequency range of the vibronic absorption spectrum to compute. 2 numbers: an upper and a lower bound.

FrequencyGridPoints
Type

Integer

Default value

400

Description

Number of grid points to use for the spectrum

LineWidth
Type

Float

Default value

200.0

Unit

cm-1

Description

Lorentzian line-width.

SpectrumOffset
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

relative

Options

[absolute, relative]

Description

Specifies whether provided frequency range are absolute frequencies or frequencies relative to computed 0-0 excitation energy.

Displacement
Type

Float

Unit

Bohr

Description

Step size for finite difference calculations.

ExcitationSettings
Type

Block

Description

Block that contains settings related to the excitation for vibronic tasks.

EnergyInline
Type

Float

Unit

hartree

Description

Vertical excitation energy, used when [ExcitationInfo] = [Inline].

ExcitationFile
Type

String

Description

Path to a .rkf/.t21 file containing the excited state information (gradients, transition dipoles and energies).

ExcitationInputFormat
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

File

Options

[File, Inline]

Description

Select how the application should retrieve the excited state information (energy, gradient).

GradientInline
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Excited state gradient at ground state equilibrium geometry, used when [ExcitationInfo] = [Inline].

Singlet
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Symmetry labels + integer indices of desired singlet transitions (VG-FC absorption spectra support only 1 at a time)

Triplet
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Symmetry labels + integer indices of desired triplet transitions (VG-FC absorption spectra support only 1 at a time)

ModeTracking
Type

Block

Description

Input data for Mode Tracking.

HessianGuess
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

CalculateWithFastEngine

Options

[Unit, File, CalculateWithFastEngine]

GUI name

Guess Hessian

Description

Sets how to obtain the guess for the Hessian used in the preconditioner (if one is to be used).

HessianInline
Type

Non-standard block

Description

Initial guess for the (non-mass-weighted) Hessian in a 3N x 3N block, used when [HessianGuess] = [Inline].

HessianPath
Type

String

Description

Path to a .rkf file containing the initial guess for the Hessian, used when [HessianGuess] = [File]. It may also be the name of the results folder containing the engine file.

ToleranceForBasis
Type

Float

Default value

0.0001

Description

Convergence tolerance for the contribution of the newest basis vector to the tracked mode.

ToleranceForNorm
Type

Float

Default value

0.0005

Description

Convergence tolerance for residual RMS value.

ToleranceForResidual
Type

Float

Default value

0.0005

Description

Convergence tolerance for the maximum component of the residual vector.

ToleranceForSpectrum
Type

Float

Default value

0.01

Description

Convergence tolerance for the spectrum in Vibronic Structure Tracking.

TrackingMethod
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

OverlapInitial

Options

[OverlapInitial, DifferenceInitial, FreqInitial, IRInitial, OverlapPrevious, DifferencePrevious, FreqPrevious, IRPrevious, HighestFreq, HighestIR, LowestFreq, LowestResidual]

Description

Set the tracking method that will be used. Vibronic Structure Tracking uses Largest Displacement.

UpdateMethod
Type

Multiple Choice

Options

[JD, D, I]

Description

Chooses the method for expanding the Krylov subspace: (I) No preconditioner (VST default), (D) Davidson or (JD) vdVorst-Sleijpen variant of Jacobi-Davidson (Mode tracking default).

NormalModes
Type

Block

Description

All input related to processing of normal modes. Not available for vibronic structure tracking (as no modes are required there).

MassWeightInlineMode
Type

Bool

Default value

Yes

Description

MODE TRACKING ONLY: The supplied modes must be mass-weighted. This tells the program to mass-weight the supplied modes in case this has not yet been done. (True means the supplied modes will be mass-weighted by the program, e.g. the supplied modes are non-mass-weighted.)

ModeFile
Type

String

Description

Path to a .rkf or .t21 file containing the modes which are to be scanned. Which modes will be scanned is selected using the criteria from the [ModeSelect] block.) This key is optional for Resonance Raman and Vibronic Structure. These methods can also calculate the modes using the engine.

ModeInline
Type

Non-standard block

Recurring

True

Description

MODE TRACKING ONLY: Coordinates of the mode which will be tracked in a N x 3 block (same as for atoms), used when [ModeInputFormat] = [Inline]. Rows must be ordered in the same way as in the [System%Atoms] block. Mode Tracking only.

ModeInputFormat
Type

Multiple Choice

Default value

File

Options

[File, Inline, Hessian]

GUI name

Tracked mode source

Description

Set how the initial guesses for the modes are supplied. Only mode tracking supports the Inline and Hessian options.

ModeSelect
Type

Block

Description

Pick which modes to read from file.

DisplacementBound
Type

Float

Description

Vibronic Structure (Refinement), Resonance Raman: Select all modes with a dimensionless oscillator displacement greater than the specified value.

FreqAndIRRange
Type

Float List

Unit

cm-1 and km/mol

Recurring

True

Description

Specifies a combined frequency and IR intensity range within which all modes will be selected. First 2 numbers are the frequency range, last 2 numbers are the IR intensity range.

FreqRange
Type

Float List

Unit

cm-1

Recurring

True

Description

Specifies a frequency range within which all modes will be selected. 2 numbers: an upper and a lower bound. Calculating all modes higher than some frequency can be achieved by making the upper bound very large.

Full
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

All modes

Description

Select all modes. This only make sense for Mode Scanning calculations.

HighFreq
Type

Integer

GUI name

# High frequencies

Description

Select the N modes with the highest frequencies.

HighIR
Type

Integer

GUI name

# High IR

Description

Select the N modes with the largest IR intensities.

IRRange
Type

Float List

Unit

km/mol

Recurring

True

Description

Specifies an IR intensity range within which all modes will be selected. 2 numbers: an upper and a lower bound.

ImFreq
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

All imaginary frequencies

Description

Select all modes with imaginary frequencies.

LargestDisplacement
Type

Integer

Description

Vibronic Structure (Refinement), Resonance Raman: Select the N modes with the largest VG-FC displacement.

LowFreq
Type

Integer

GUI name

# Low frequencies

Description

Select the N modes with the lowest frequencies. Includes imaginary modes which are recorded with negative frequencies.

LowFreqNoIm
Type

Integer

GUI name

# Low positive frequencies

Description

Select the N modes with the lowest non-negative frequencies. Imaginary modes have negative frequencies and are thus omitted here.

LowIR
Type

Integer

GUI name

# Low IR

Description

Select the N modes with the smallest IR intensities.

ModeNumber
Type

Integer List

GUI name

Mode numbers

Description

Indices of the modes to select.

ScanModes
Type

Bool

Default value

No

GUI name

Scan after refining

Description

Supported by: Mode Tracking, Mode Refinement, Vibronic Structure Refinement: If enabled an additional displacement will be performed along the new modes at the end of the calculation to obtain refined frequencies and IR intensities. Equivalent to running the output file of the mode tracking calculation through the AMS ModeScanning task.

ResonanceRaman
Type

Block

Description

Block that contains settings for the calculation of Resonance Raman calculations

IncidentFrequency
Type

Float

Unit

cm-1

Description

Frequency of incident light. Also used to determine most important excitation in case more than one is provided.

LifeTime
Type

Float

Default value

0.00045

Unit

hartree

Description

Lifetime of Raman excited state.

RamanOrder
Type

Integer

Default value

2

Description

Order up to which to compute Raman transitions

RamanRange
Type

Float List

Default value

[0.0, 2000.0]

Unit

cm-1

Recurring

True

Description

Specifies frequency range of the Raman spectrum to compute. 2 numbers: an upper and a lower bound.

Type
Type

Multiple Choice

Options

[ModeScanning, ModeTracking, ModeRefinement, VibronicStructure, VibronicStructureTracking, VibronicStructureRefinement, ResonanceRaman]

Description

Specifies the type of vibrational analysis that should be performed

VSTRestartFile
Type

String

Description

Path to a .rkf file containing restart information for VST.