CANONICAL NUMERICAL-METHODS FOR MOLECULAR-DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS

We consider the application of canonical numerical integrators to molecular dynamics simulations. Computer experiments are done to analyze the relative merits of using canonical integrators against their noncanonical counterparts. These experiments involve the study of the properties of liquid argon utilizing the Lennard-Jones interaction potential. To accomplish this comparative study of canonical and noncanonical integrators, we computed thermodynamic and structural quantities. Our results indicate that noncanonical methods, with one exception, fail miserably to conserve energy and as a consequence give poor estimates of the other quantities. Also, higher-order canonical methods may offer an advantage over the Stormer/Verlet method. (C) 1994 by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.