Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-12T09:32:30.737Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Calculation of Free Energy from the Internal-Energy Distribution Function

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2011

S. R. Phillpot
Affiliation:
Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439
J. M. Rickman
Affiliation:
Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439
Get access

Abstract

We outline a new method for the calculation of free energies from a cumulant analysis of the internal-energy distribution function obtained from a Monte-Carlo simulation. The new methodology is validated by comparing the free energy calculated for a perfect crystal from this approach with the free energy calculated by a temperature integration scheme. By comparing the two methods for an inhomogeneous system containing grain boundaries, we investigate the effects of the local-strain distribution on the free energy; for the superlattice of twist grain boundaries studied here, the effects are found to be small.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Hoover, W. G., Hindmarsh, A. C. and Holian, B. L., J. Chem. Phys. 57, 1980 (1972).Google Scholar
2. Valleau, J. P. and Torrie, G. M., in Modern Theoretical Chemistry (eds. Berne, B. J.) (Publisher, New York, 1976).Google Scholar
3. Bennett, C. H., J. Comput. Phys. 22, 245 (1976).Google Scholar
4. Broughton, J. Q. and Li, X. P., Phys. Rev. B 35, 9120 (1987).Google Scholar
5. Frenkel, D. and Ladd, A. J. C., J. Chem. Phys. 81, 3188 (1984).Google Scholar
6. Phillpot, S. R. and Rickman, J. M., submitted to Phys. Rev. B.Google Scholar
7. See for example, Allen, M. P. and Tildesley, D. J., Computer Simulation of Liquids (Oxford Science Publications, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1987).Google Scholar
8. Ferrenberg, A. M. and Swendsen, R. H., Phys. Rev. Lett. 61, 2635 (1988).Google Scholar
9. See for example, Reichl, L. E., A Modern Course in Statistical Physics 1–709 (University of Texas Press, Austin, 1980).Google Scholar
10. Lutsko, J. F., Wolf, D. and Yip, S., J. Chem. Phys. 88, 6525 (1988).Google Scholar
11. Wolf, D., Acta. Metall. 37, 1983 (1989).Google Scholar