Performing Path Integral Molecular Dynamics Using an Artificial Intelligence-Enhanced Molecular Simulation Framework

C Fan and MD Li and SH Yuan and ZX Xie and DC Chen and YI Yang and YQ Gao, JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL THEORY AND COMPUTATION, 21, 7279-7289 (2025).

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.5c00666

This study employed an artificial intelligence-enhanced molecular simulation framework to enable efficient path integral molecular dynamics (PIMD) simulations. Owing to its modular architecture and high- throughput capabilities, the framework effectively mitigates the computational complexity and resource-intensive limitations associated with conventional PIMD approaches. By integrating machine learning force fields (MLFFs) into the framework, we rigorously tested its performance through two representative cases: a small-molecule reaction system (double-proton transfer in the formic acid dimer) and a bulk-phase transition system (water-ice phase transformation). Computational results demonstrate that the proposed framework achieves accelerated PIMD simulations while preserving the quantum mechanical accuracy. These findings show that nuclear quantum effects can be captured for complex molecular systems using relatively low computational cost.

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