MeanSquareDisplacement¶
- class MeanSquareDisplacement(md_trajectory, start_time=None, end_time=None, atom_selection=None, anisotropy=None, use_com=None, time_resolution=None, info_panel=None)¶
Constructor for the MeanSquareDisplacement object.
- Parameters:
md_trajectory (
MDTrajectory
|AtomicConfiguration
) – The MDTrajectory or configuration to calculate the mean-square-displacement for.start_time (PhysicalQuantity of type time) – The start time. Default:
0.0 * fs
.end_time (PhysicalQuantity of type time) – The end time. Default: The last time frame.
atom_selection (
PeriodicTableElement
| str | list of ints) – Only include contributions from this selection. The atoms can be selected by element i.e.PeriodicTableElement
, tag or a list of atomic indices. Default: all atoms.anisotropy (list of type int | int | None) – The list of Cartesian directions (x=0, y=1, z=2) to calculate the anisotropic mean square displacement in or a single Cartesian direction. By default an isotropic calculation is performed. Default: None.
use_com (bool) – Whether or not displacement is calculated from molecular center of mass. Default: False.
time_resolution (PhysicalQuantity of type time) – The time interval between snapshots in the MD trajectory that are included in the analysis.
info_panel (InfoPanel (Plot2D)) – Info panel to show the calculation progress. Default: No info panel.
- data()¶
Return the mean-square-displacement values.
- times()¶
Return the time values.
Usage Examples¶
Load an MDTrajectory, and calculate the mean-square-displacement (MSD) of all aluminum atoms. Estimate the diffusion coefficient from the slope of the MSD-curve, according to \(MSD(t)=6 Dt\):
md_trajectory = nlread('alumina_trajectory.nc')[-1]
msd = MeanSquareDisplacement(md_trajectory, atom_selection=Aluminum)
# Get the times in ps and the MSD values in Ang**2.
t = msd.times().inUnitsOf(ps)
msd_data = msd.data().inUnitsOf(Angstrom**2)
# Plot the data using pylab.
import pylab
pylab.plot(t, msd_data, label='MSD of aluminum')
pylab.xlabel('t (ps)')
pylab.ylabel('MSD(t) (Ang**2)')
pylab.legend()
pylab.show()
# Fit the slope of the MSD to estimate the diffusion coefficient.
# If you discover non-linear behavior at small times, discard this initial part in the fit.
a = numpy.polyfit(t[5:], msd_data[5:], deg=1)
# Calculate the diffusion coefficient in Ang**2/ps.
diffusion_coefficient = a[0]/6.0
Notes¶
The MeanSquareDisplacement is calculated as:
In practice, the average \(<...>\) runs over all selected atoms \(i\) in the trajectory, and an additional average over simulation time is carried out to improve the statistical sampling. That means for a given time difference \(t\) all image pairs that are separated by \(t\) are taken into account in the average, as
Note, that this requires a system which is equilibrated, i.e. its macroscopic properties do not change during the simulation.
By default, all elements are taken into account, but a specified selection can
be given as well. The atom_selection
parameter accepts an element, a tag
name, or a list of indices to select atoms for the velocity distribution. This
can be useful, e.g. in the presence of constraints as constrained atoms should
be excluded in this analysis.