Volume fluctuation moves

All the simulations have been performed using cubic simulation boxes in the NPT ensemble, following the procedure of Boyd [39], and de Pablo et al. [45]. Volume fluctuation moves were performed every 500, 1000 or 2000 moves. 

The density dependence of the entropy can also be studied by introducing fluctuations in volume rather than particle number. Typically the particle number approach is favored the computational demands of volume scaling moves scale faster with system size than do addition and deletion moves. Nevertheless, the Wang-Landau approach provides a means for studying volume fluctuations as well. In this case, the excess entropy is determined as a function of volume and potential energy for fixed particle number one, therefore, calculates (V, U). Here the microstate probabilities follow ... 

In the grand-canonical Monte Carlo method, the system volume, temperature, and chemical potential are kept fixed, while the number of particles is allowed to fluctuate.There exist three types of trial move (1) displacement of a particle, (2) insertion of a particle, and (3) removal of a particle. These trial moves are generated at random with equal probability. The acceptance probability of the Metropolis method can be used for the trial moves of type (1). For the two other types, the acceptance probabilities are different. Regarding zeolites, an adsorption isotherm can be calculated with the grand-canonical Monte Carlo method by running a series of simulations at varying chemical potentials. 

The grand-canonical ensemble is particularly well suited for studies of liquid-vapor phase coexistence (i) Fluctuations of the order parameter, i.e., the density, are efficiently relaxed. Since the density is not conserved, spatial fluctuations do not decay via slow diffusion of polymers but relax much faster through insertion/deletion moves. In the grand-canonical ensemble one controls the temperature, T, the volume, V, and the chemical potential, p,... 

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