Morse potentials

The most frequently used model potentials are Rigid sphere, point center of repulsion, Sutherland s model, Lennard-Jones potential, modified Buckingham potential, Kihara potential, Morse potential. Their advantages and disadvantages are thoroughly discussed elsewhere [39] [28]. 

In models employing simple pair potentials (Morse, Lennard-Jones, Buckingham) only the direct interaction between two atoms is considered. These potentials are radially symmetric and ignore the directional property of the interatomic bond. They make the best use for molecules. One may estimate the total energy of a solid by the use of pair potentials though they involve no further cohesive term. 

Figure 7.34 Potential Morse, the energy levels and the dissociation energy D.

Morse [119] introduced a potential energy model for tire vibrations of bound molecules... 

Heather R and Metiu H 1985 Some remarks concerning the propagation of a Gaussian wave packet trapped in a Morse potential Chem. Phys. Lett. 118 558-63... 

During initialization and final analysis of the QCT calculations, the numerical values of the Morse potential paiameters that we have used aie given as... 

The center of the wavepacket thus evolves along the trajectory defined by classical mechanics. This is in fact a general result for wavepackets in a hannonic potential, and follows from the Ehrenfest theorem [147] [see Eqs. (154,155) in Appendix C]. The equations of motion are straightforward to integrate, with the exception of the width matrix, Eq. (44). This equation is numerically unstable, and has been found to cause problems in practical applications using Morse potentials [148]. As a result, Heller inboduced the P-Z method as an alternative propagation method [24]. In this, the matrix A, is rewritten as a product of matrices... 

Next, we replace the stiff spring potential a(r — 1) /2 by the Morse potential... 

Figure 7-9. Variation of the potential energy of the bonded interaction of two atoms with the distance between them. The solid line comes close to the experimental situation by using a Morse function the broken line represents the approximation by a harmonic potential.

For each pair of interacting atoms (/r is their reduced mass), three parameters are needed D, (depth of the potential energy minimum, k (force constant of the par-tictilar bond), and l(, (reference bond length). The Morse ftinction will correctly allow the bond to dissociate, but has the disadvantage that it is computationally very expensive. Moreover, force fields arc normally not parameterized to handle bond dissociation. To circumvent these disadvantages, the Morse function is replaced by a simple harmonic potential, which describes bond stretching by Hooke s law (Eq. (20)). 

Compared with the Morse potential, Hooke s law performs reasonably well in the equilibrium area near If, where the shape of the Morse function is more or less quadratic (see Figure 7-9 in the minimum-energy region). To improve the performance of the harmonic potential for non-equilibrium bond lengths also, higher-order terms can be added to the potential according to Eq. (21). 

Additionally to and a third adjustable parameter a was introduced. For a-values between 14 and 15, a form very similar to the Lennard-Jones [12-6] potential can be obtained. The Buckingham type of potential has the disadvantage that it becomes attractive for very short interatomic distances. A Morse potential may also be used to model van der Waals interactions in a PEF, assuming that an adapted parameter set is available. 

A Morse fun Cl ion best approxini ales a boiul polcn iial. One of ihc obvious clifl erciices between a Morse and harinoiiic poleiUial is lhal only (he Morse potential can describe a dissociating bond. 

The Morse function rises more steeply ihan ihe harmonic potential at short bonding distances. This difference can be important especially during molecular dynamics simulations, where thermal energy takes a molecule away from a potential minimum. ... 

Comparison of the simple harmonic potential (Hooke s law) with the Morse curve. 

A cubic bond-stretching potential passes through a maximum but gives a better approximation to the Morse e close to the equilibrium structure than the quadratic form. 

An undesirable side-effect of an expansion that includes just a quadratic and a cubic term (as is employed in MM2) is that, far from the reference value, the cubic fimction passes through a maximum. This can lead to a catastrophic lengthening of bonds (Figure 4.6). One way to nci iimmodate this problem is to use the cubic contribution only when the structure is ,utficiently close to its equilibrium geometry and is well inside the true potential well. MM3 also includes a quartic term this eliminates the inversion problem and leads to an t". . 11 better description of the Morse curve. 

Two of the most severe limitations of the harmonie oseillator model, the laek of anharmonieity (i.e., non-uniform energy level spaeings) and laek of bond dissoeiation, result from the quadratie nature of its potential. By introdueing model potentials that allow for proper bond dissoeiation (i.e., that do not inerease without bound as x=>°o), the major shorteomings of the harmonie oseillator pieture ean be overeome. The so-ealled Morse potential (see the figure below)... 

Here, Dg is the bond dissoeiation energy, rg is the equilibrium bond length, and a is a eonstant that eharaeterizes the steepness of the potential and determines the vibrational frequeneies. The advantage of using the Morse potential to improve upon harmonie-oseillator-level predietions is that its energy levels and wavefunetions are also known exaetly. The energies are given in terms of the parameters of the potential as follows ... 

The Morse oscillator model is often used to go beyond the harmonic oscillator approximation. In this model, the potential Ej(R) is expressed in terms of the bond dissociation energy Dg and a parameter a related to the second derivative k of Ej(R) at Rg k = ( d2Ej/dR2) = 2a2Dg as follows ... 

Bond stretching is most often described by a harmonic oscillator equation. It is sometimes described by a Morse potential. In rare cases, bond stretching will be described by a Leonard-Jones or quartic potential. Cubic equations have been used for describing bond stretching, but suffer from becoming completely repulsive once the bond has been stretched past a certain point. 

FIGURE 6.2 Hannonic, cubic, and Morse potential curves used to describe the energy due to bond stretching in molecular mechanics force fields. 

Results using this technique are better for force helds made to describe geometries away from equilibrium. For example, it is better to use Morse potentials than harmonic potentials to describe bond stretching. Some researchers have created force helds for a specihc reaction. These are made by htting to the potential energy surface obtained from ah initio calculations. This is useful for examining dynamics on the surface, but it is much more work than simply using ah initio methods to hnd a transition structure. 

In light of the differences between a Morse and a harmonic potential, why do force fields use the harmonic potential First, the harmonic potential is faster to compute and easier to parameterize than the Morse function. The two functions are similar at the potential minimum, so they provide similar values for equilibrium structures. As computer resources expand and as simulations of thermal motion (See Molecular Dynamics , page 69) become more popular, the Morse function may be used more often. 

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