Learned Free-Energy Functionals from Pair-Correlation Matching for Dynamical Density Functional Theory

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Main Authors: Ram, Karnik, Dijkman, Jacobus, van Roij, René, van de Meent, Jan-Willem, Ensing, Bernd, Welling, Max, Cremers, Daniel
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Ram, Karnik
Dijkman, Jacobus
van Roij, René
van de Meent, Jan-Willem
Ensing, Bernd
Welling, Max
Cremers, Daniel
author_facet Ram, Karnik
Dijkman, Jacobus
van Roij, René
van de Meent, Jan-Willem
Ensing, Bernd
Welling, Max
Cremers, Daniel
contents Classical density functional theory (cDFT) and dynamical density functional theory (DDFT) are modern statistical mechanical theories for modeling many-body colloidal systems at the one-body density level. The theories hinge on knowing the excess free-energy accurately, which is however not feasible for most practical applications. Dijkman et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 056103 (2025)] recently showed how a neural excess free-energy functional for cDFT can be learned from bulk simulations via pair-correlation matching. In this article, we demonstrate how this same functional can be applied to DDFT, without any retraining, to simulate non-equilibrium overdamped dynamics of inhomogeneous densities. We evaluate this on a 3D Lennard-Jones system with planar geometry under various complex external potentials and observe good agreement of the dynamical densities with those from expensive Brownian dynamic simulations, up to the limit of the adiabatic approximation. We further develop and apply an extension of DDFT based on gradient flows, to a grand-canonical system modeled after breakthrough gas adsorption studies, finding similarly good agreement. Our results demonstrate a practical route for leveraging learned free-energy functionals in DDFT, paving the way for accurate and efficient modeling of many-body non-equilibrium systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_09543
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Learned Free-Energy Functionals from Pair-Correlation Matching for Dynamical Density Functional Theory
Ram, Karnik
Dijkman, Jacobus
van Roij, René
van de Meent, Jan-Willem
Ensing, Bernd
Welling, Max
Cremers, Daniel
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Chemical Physics
Classical density functional theory (cDFT) and dynamical density functional theory (DDFT) are modern statistical mechanical theories for modeling many-body colloidal systems at the one-body density level. The theories hinge on knowing the excess free-energy accurately, which is however not feasible for most practical applications. Dijkman et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 056103 (2025)] recently showed how a neural excess free-energy functional for cDFT can be learned from bulk simulations via pair-correlation matching. In this article, we demonstrate how this same functional can be applied to DDFT, without any retraining, to simulate non-equilibrium overdamped dynamics of inhomogeneous densities. We evaluate this on a 3D Lennard-Jones system with planar geometry under various complex external potentials and observe good agreement of the dynamical densities with those from expensive Brownian dynamic simulations, up to the limit of the adiabatic approximation. We further develop and apply an extension of DDFT based on gradient flows, to a grand-canonical system modeled after breakthrough gas adsorption studies, finding similarly good agreement. Our results demonstrate a practical route for leveraging learned free-energy functionals in DDFT, paving the way for accurate and efficient modeling of many-body non-equilibrium systems.
title Learned Free-Energy Functionals from Pair-Correlation Matching for Dynamical Density Functional Theory
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.09543