Accurate Ne-heavier rare gas interatomic potentials

Trapping and thermal migration of the first- and second-row atoms in Ar, Kr and Xe crystals

Trapping and temperature-induced migration (TIM) of the first- and second-row atoms A from H to Ne in the face-centered cubic rare gas RG = Ar, Kr and Xe crystals are investigated within the classical crystal model parameterized by the empirically modified pairwise potentials. New ab initio coupled cluster A-RG potentials computed in a uniform way for all the atoms A are used to represent the atom-crystal interactions. Absolute and relative stabilities of the substitutional and interstitial trapping sites, their structures, interstitial migration pathways, related activation energies and rough estimates of the TIM rates are obtained. The isotropic model, which neglects non-zero atomic electronic orbital momentum, reveals that migration of interstitial atoms along the network of conjugated fcc octahedral voids is the generic case for atomic mobility. Anisotropic interactions with a crystal inherent to P-state atoms B, C, O and F are accounted for using the non-relativistic diatomics-in-molecule method. Depending on its sign, interaction anisotropy can alter the structures of interstitial trapping sites and transition states remarkably. This, in turn, can dramatically affect the TIM rates. Comparison with reliable experimental data available for oxygen and hydrogen indicates a systematic overestimation of the measured activation energies, by 30% at worst. A comprehensive literature review accomplished for other atoms reveals a lack of information on the TIM processes and rates, though makes it possible to verify a part of the present results on the trapping site energies and structures.

Improved parameterization of interatomic potentials for rare gas dimers with density-based energy decomposition analysis

We examine interatomic interactions for rare gas dimers using the density-based energy decomposition analysis (DEDA) in conjunction with computational results from CCSD(T) at the complete basis set (CBS) limit. The unique DEDA capability of separating frozen density interactions from density relaxation contributions is employed to yield clean interaction components, and the results are found to be consistent with the typical physical picture that density relaxations play a very minimal role in rare gas interactions. Equipped with each interaction component as reference, we develop a new three-term molecular mechanical force field to describe rare gas dimers: a smeared charge multipole model for electrostatics with charge penetration effects, a B3LYP-D3 dispersion term for asymptotically correct long-range attractions that is screened at short-range, and a Born-Mayer exponential function for the repulsion. The resulted force field not only reproduces rare gas interaction energies calculated at the CCSD(T)/CBS level, but also yields each interaction component (electrostatic or van der Waals) which agrees very well with its corresponding reference value.

Beyond the Lennard-Jones model: a simple and accurate potential function probed by high resolution scattering data useful for molecular dynamics simulations

Scattering data, measured for rare gas-rare gas systems under high angular and energy resolution conditions, have been used to probe the reliability of a recently proposed interaction potential function, which involves only one additional parameter with respect to the venerable Lennard-Jones (LJ) model and is hence called Improved Lennard-Jones (ILJ). The ILJ potential eliminates most of the inadequacies at short- and long-range of the LJ model. Further reliability tests have been performed by comparing calculated vibrational spacings with experimental values and calculated interaction energies at short-range with those obtained from the inversion of gaseous transport properties. The analysis, extended also to systems involving ions, suggests that the ILJ potential model can be used to estimate the behavior of unknown systems and can help to assess the different role of the leading interaction components. Moreover, due to its simple formulation, the physically reliable ILJ model appears to be particularly useful for molecular dynamics simulations of both neutral and ionic systems.