[CPMD-list] Problems optimizing monoclinic unit cell

Ewald Pauwels ewald.pauwels at UGent.be
Mon Dec 6 15:33:26 CET 2004


Dear all,

A few months ago, I posted a question regarding a problem with 
optimizing the molecules in a monoclinic unit cell (original message 
below). After some helpfull comments (for which I am very grateful, 
btw), I did some further testing on this matter. I now suspect that 
there is a bug in the CPMD code (both in 3.7.2 and in 3.9.1)! The 
problem apparently lies in the treatment of the CELL keyword, as I will 
try to discuss.
 
I first started out with the definition for my molecular system using 
the keywords SYMMETRY and CELL:
    &SYSTEM
    ANGSTROM
    SYMMETRY
    12
    CELL
    5.0872  2.314338  1.073321  0.0  -0.374493314  0.0

As Bala Sundaram pointed out to me, this specific format (as given in 
the manual) was incorrect and should be replaced by:
    &SYSTEM
    ANGSTROM
    SYMMETRY
    12
    CELL
    5.0872  2.314338  1.073321 -0.374493314  0.0  0.0 
That is, the format of the CELL keyword for a monoclinic system is:
    a  b/a  c/a   cos(beta)  0   0
A notification of this format is also implemented in version 3.9.1 of 
cpmd, although I think some mention in the manual would be helpfull.
Anyhow, the calculation still failed and the reason is quite apparent in 
the output:
      ************************** SUPERCELL ***************************
      SYMMETRY:                                             MONOCLINIC
      LATTICE CONSTANT(a.u.):                                  9.61341
      CELL DIMENSION:   9.6134  2.3143  1.0733 -0.3745  0.0000  0.0000
      VOLUME(OMEGA IN BOHR^3):                              2046.33461
      LATTICE VECTOR A1(BOHR):            9.6134     0.0000     0.0000
      LATTICE VECTOR A2(BOHR):           -8.3320    20.6296     0.0000
      LATTICE VECTOR A3(BOHR):            0.0000     0.0000    10.3183
As the lattice vectors point out, the a and c axis are perpendicular!! 
This is obviously not in accordance with the monoclinic symmetry!

As this did not solve my problem, I redid my calculation, this time with 
the CELL VECTORS keyword:
    &SYSTEM
    ANGSTROM
    CELL VECTORS
        5.087         0.0          0.0
        0.0             11.773    0.0
        -2.04447   0.0           5.062781
This calculation was succesfull, but now in the output it appears that 
my molecular symmetry is TRICLINIC!!
      ************************** SUPERCELL ***************************
      SYMMETRY:                                              TRICLINIC
      LATTICE CONSTANT(a.u.):                                  9.61304
      CELL DIMENSION:   9.6130  2.3143  1.0733  0.0000 -0.3744  0.0000
      VOLUME(OMEGA IN BOHR^3):                              2046.13616
      LATTICE VECTOR A1(BOHR):            9.6130     0.0000     0.0000
      LATTICE VECTOR A2(BOHR):            0.0000    22.2477     0.0000
      LATTICE VECTOR A3(BOHR):           -3.8635     0.0000     9.5673

Eventually, my calculations succeeded but I hope you agree that there 
are certain issues with regard to the SYMMETRY and CELL keywords that 
need to be looked at.


Sincerely,
Ewald Pauwels.




Ewald Pauwels wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> Does anybody have any experience with applying CPMD on monoclinic 
> crystals?
> The system I am studying contains four (organic) molecules in the unit 
> cell. When I optimize these molecules (only the atomic coordinates - 
> not the cell constants), I find that the unit cell no longer satisfies 
> the original symmetry. I.e. all four molecules have a substantially 
> different conformation!
>
> I suspect that I must be doing something wrong here. Below is my 
> inputfile.
>
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Ewald.
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
> inputfile
> -------------------------------------------------------
> &CPMD
> RESTART LATEST GEOFILE WAVEFUNCTION
> OPTIMIZE GEOMETRY
> LSD
> ODIIS NO_RESET=50
>  10
> TIMESTEP
>  20
> PRINT
>  10
> STRUCTURE BONDS ANGLES
> &END
>
> &SYSTEM
> ANGSTROM
> SYMMETRY
> 12
> CELL
> 5.0872  2.314338  1.073321  0.0  -0.374493314  0.0
> CUTOFF
> 25.
> MULTIPLICITY
> 1
> &END
>
> &ATOMS
> *C_VDB_U BINARY NEWF
> LMAX=P
> 8
>  0.218182218417937  1.473520453  0.333090471110274
>  0.732546560623109  1.717103823  -1.08374897292691
>  1.30308357695184  7.360020453  2.1982999039374
>  0.788719234746671  7.603603823  3.61513934797459
>  -0.218182218417937  -1.473520453  -0.333090471110274
>  -0.732546560623109  -1.717103823  1.08374897292691
>  1.73944801378772  4.412979547  2.86448084615795
>  2.25381235599289  4.169396177  1.44764140212077
> *N_VDB_U BINARY NEWF
> LMAX=P
> 4
>  2.03113800324446  1.040509513  -1.31410549705625
>  -0.509872207874679  6.927009513  3.84549587210393
>  -2.03113800324446  -1.040509513  1.31410549705625
>  3.55240379861424  4.845990487  1.21728487799143
> *O_VDB_U BINARY NEWF
> LMAX=P
> 8
>  1.05333382374583  1.104201443  1.19695275049904
>  -1.00750738194352  1.676251513  0.53944941448416
>  0.467931971623952  6.990701443  1.33443762454863
>  2.5287731773133  7.562751513  1.99194096056352
>  -1.05333382374583  -1.104201443  -1.19695275049904
>  1.00750738194352  -1.676251513  -0.53944941448416
>  2.57459961911561  4.782298557  3.72834312554672
>  0.513758413426261  4.210248487  3.07083978953184
> *H_VDB_U BINARY NEWF
> LMAX=S
> 20
>  2.33817143317496  1.18130282  -2.29299415508719
>  2.75812420631155  1.37791192  -0.67745575495101
>  1.93653355901116  0.03473035  -1.14763114043162
>  0.875530385150063  2.77889892  -1.22357285168305
>  0.0131007466085907  1.35318862  -1.81758891709173
>  -0.816905637805185  7.06780282  4.82438453013487
>  -1.23685841094177  7.26441192  3.20884612999869
>  -0.415267763641377  5.92123035  3.67902151547929
>  0.645735410219716  8.66539892  3.75496322673072
>  1.50816504876119  7.23968862  4.34897929213941
>  -2.33817143317496  -1.18130282  2.29299415508719
>  -2.75812420631155  -1.37791192  0.67745575495101
>  -1.93653355901116  -0.03473035  1.14763114043162
>  -0.875530385150063  -2.77889892  1.22357285168305
>  -0.0131007466085907  -1.35318862  1.81758891709173
>  3.85943722854474  4.70519718  0.23839621996049
>  4.27939000168133  4.50858808  1.85393462009667
>  3.45779935438094  5.85176965  1.38375923461606
>  2.39679618051984  3.10760108  1.30781752336463
>  1.53436654197837  4.53331138  0.713801457955944
> &END
>
> &DFT
> LDA CORRELATION PZ
> FUNCTIONAL BP
> GC-CUTOFF
> 5.D-5
> &END
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>


-- 
Ewald Pauwels
Centre for Molecular Modelling
Laboratory of Theoretical Physics
Ghent University
Proeftuinstraat 86
B-9000 Gent
Belgium
ewald.pauwels at UGent.be
+32 9 264 65 76

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://cpmd.org/pipermail/cpmd-list/attachments/20041206/40810341/attachment.html 


More information about the CPMD-list mailing list