Metropolis technique

Monte Carlo search methods are stochastic techniques based on the use of random numbers and probability statistics to sample conformational space. The name Monte Carlo was originally coined by Metropolis and Ulam [4] during the Manhattan Project of World War II because of the similarity of this simulation technique to games of chance. Today a variety of Monte Carlo (MC) simulation methods are routinely used in diverse fields such as atmospheric studies, nuclear physics, traffic flow, and, of course, biochemistry and biophysics. In this section we focus on the application of the Monte Carlo method for... 

By far the most common methods of studying aqueous interfaces by simulations are the Metropolis Monte Carlo (MC) technique and the classical molecular dynamics (MD) techniques. They will not be described here in detail, because several excellent textbooks and proceedings volumes (e.g., [2-8]) on the subject are available. In brief, the stochastic MC technique generates microscopic configurations of the system in the canonical (NYT) ensemble the deterministic MD method solves Newton s equations of motion and generates a time-correlated sequence of configurations in the microcanonical (NVE) ensemble. Structural and thermodynamic properties are accessible by both methods the MD method provides additional information about the microscopic dynamics of the system. 

Presently Monte Carlo calculations are based on the technique proposed by Metropolis [22] in 1953 which involves selecting the successive configurations in such a way that they build up a Markov chain [23], The one-step transition probabilities pij are defined as the probability that beginning from the i configuration with qj(N), the configuration j with qj,N> is reached in one step. These probabilities are the elements of the one-step probability matrix associated to the Markov chain and they must fulfill the following conditions ... 

The Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is performed using standard procedures [33] for the Metropolis sampling technique in the isothermal-isobaiic ensemble, where the number of molecules N, the pressure P and the temperature T are fixed. As usual, we used the periodic boundary conditions and image method in a cubic box of size L. In our simulation, we use one F embedded in 1000 molecules of water in normal conditions (T—29S K and P= 1 atm). The F and the water molecules interact by the Lennard-Jones plus Coulomb potential with three parameters for each interacting site i (e, o, - and qi). 

As the appropriate Boltzmann weights are included in the Metropolis Monte Carlo sampling technique, the average value of the polarizability, or any other property calculated from the MC data, is given as a simple average over all the values calculated for each configuration. 

A more interesting problem is that the Metropolis Monte Carlo studies used a different (physically simplified) kinetic rate law for atomic motion than the KMC work. That is, the rules governing the rate at which atoms jump from one configuration to the next were fundamentally different. This can have serious implications for such dynamic phenomena as step fluctuations, adatom mobility, etc. In this paper, we describe the physical differences between the rate laws used in the previous work, and then present results using just one of the simulation techniques, namely KMC, but comparing both kinds of rate laws. 

The results shown in this study are limited to the KMC algorithm. In principle, to model a realistic system the set k, can be found using molecular dynamics simulations, or other similar techniques these can then be used as input into KMC. Here, our purposes are more general. A square lattice is examined, and there are two simplified rate laws of interest. The first is often used in KMC simulations of deposition, and is termed i-kinetics. A second set represents a kinetics that is analogous to the hopping probabilities used in the Metropolis simulations. We term the latter A/-kinetics. 

However, it is normally assumed that the conformers that bind to target sites will be those with a minimum potential energy. Since molecules may have large numbers of such metastable conformers a number of techniques, such as the Metropolis Monte Carlo method and comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA), have been developed to determine the effect of conformational changes on the effectiveness of docking procedures. 

Dynamic Monte Carlo simulations were first used by Verdier and Stockmayer (5) for lattice polymers. An alternative dynamical Monte Carlo method has been developed by Ceperley, Kalos and Lebowitz (6) and applied to the study of single, three dimensional polymers. In addition to the dynamic Monte Carlo studies, molecular dynamics methods have been used. Ryckaert and Bellemans (7) and Weber (8) have studied liquid n-butane. Solvent effects have been probed by Bishop, Kalos and Frisch (9), Rapaport (10), and Rebertus, Berne and Chandler (11). Multichain systems have been simulated by Curro (12), De Vos and Bellemans (13), Wall et al (14), Okamoto (15), Kranbu ehl and Schardt (16), and Mandel (17). Curro s study was the only one without a lattice but no dynamic properties were calculated because the standard Metropolis method was employed. De Vos and Belleman, Okamoto, and Kranbuehl and Schardt studies included dynamics by using the technique of Verdier and Stockmayer. Wall et al and Mandel introduced a novel mechanism for speeding relaxation to equilibrium but no dynamical properties were studied. These investigations indicated that the chain contracted and the chain dynamic processes slowed down in the presence of other polymers. 

Another procedure to overcome the inefficiency of Metropolis Monte Carlo is adaptive importance sampling.194-196 In this technique, the partition function (and quantities derived from it, such as the probability of a given conformation) is evaluated by continually upgrading the distribution function (ultimately to the Boltzmann distribution) to concentrate the sampling in the region (s) where the probabilities are highest. 

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