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The Effects of Quantum Delocalization on the Structural and Thermodynamic Properties of Many-body Systems

出版	University of California, Irvine, 2011
ISBN	11249217109781124921716
URL	http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=yZtRAQAACAAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api

註釋The following dissertation is an account of my research in the Mandelshtam group at UC Irvine beginning in the Fall of 2006 and ending in the Summer of 2011. My general area of study falls within the realm of equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics, a discipline which attempts to relate molecular-scale properties to time averaged, macroscopic observables. The major tools used herein are the Variational Gaussian Wavepacket (VGW) approximation for quantum calculations, and Monte-Carlo methods, particularly parallel tempering, for global optimization and the prediction of equilibrium thermodynamic properties. Much of my work used these two methods to model both small and bulk systems at equilibrium where quantum effects are significant. All the systems considered are characterized by inter-molecular van der Waals forces, which are weak but significant electrostatic attractions between atoms and molecules and posses a 1/r6 dependence. The research herein begins at the microscopic level, starting with Lennard-Jones (LJ) clusters, then later shifts to the macroscopic for a study involving bulk para-hydrogen. For the LJ clusters the structural transitions induced by a changing deBoer parameter, a measure of quantum delocalization of the constituent particles, are investigated over a range of cluster sizes, N. From the data a "phase" diagram as a function of and N is constructed, which depicts the structural motifs favored at different size and quantum parameter. Comparisons of the "quantum induced" structural transitions depicted in the latter are also made with temperature induced transitions and those caused by varying the range of the Morse potential. Following this, the structural properties of binary para-Hydrogen/ortho-Deuterium clusters are investigated using the VGW approximation and Monte-Carlo methods within the GMIN framework. The latter uses the "Basin-Hopping" algorithm, which simplifies the potential energy landscape, and coupled with the VGW approximation, an efficient and viable method for predicting equilibrium quantum mechanical properties is demonstrated. In the next chapter my contribution to the numerical implementation of the Thermal Gaussian Molecular Dynamics (TGMD) method is discussed. Within TGMD, a mapping of a quantum system to a classical is performed by means of an effective Hamiltonian, H eff, which is computed within the VGW framework. Using the classical dynamical equations of motion with H eff, the properties of a quantum system can be modeled within a classical framework. After this, the bulk system of fluid para-Hydrogen is investigated using the VGW in the NPT ensemble in an attempt to derive the thermodynamic properties at the phase transition and construct the equation of state. The dissertation then concludes with a discussion on the adaptation of the VGW methodology to any molecular system