Learning the action for long-time-step simulations of molecular dynamics

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Bigi, Filippo, Spies, Johannes, Ceriotti, Michele
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Bigi, Filippo
Spies, Johannes
Ceriotti, Michele
author_facet Bigi, Filippo
Spies, Johannes
Ceriotti, Michele
contents The equations of classical mechanics can be used to model the time evolution of countless physical systems, from the astrophysical to the atomic scale. Accurate numerical integration requires small time steps, which limits the computational efficiency -- especially in cases such as molecular dynamics that span wildly different time scales. Using machine-learning (ML) algorithms to predict trajectories allows one to greatly extend the integration time step, at the cost of introducing artifacts such as lack of energy conservation and loss of equipartition between different degrees of freedom of a system. We propose learning data-driven structure-preserving (symplectic and time-reversible) maps to generate long time-step classical dynamics and show that this method is equivalent to learning the mechanical action of the system of interest. These models can be learned based on short reference trajectories, and be transferred across thermodynamic conditions and chemical composition. We show that an action-derived ML integrator eliminates the pathological behavior of non-structure-preserving ML predictors, and that the method can be applied iteratively, serving as a correction to computationally cheaper direct predictors.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_01068
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Learning the action for long-time-step simulations of molecular dynamics
Bigi, Filippo
Spies, Johannes
Ceriotti, Michele
Chemical Physics
Materials Science
Machine Learning
The equations of classical mechanics can be used to model the time evolution of countless physical systems, from the astrophysical to the atomic scale. Accurate numerical integration requires small time steps, which limits the computational efficiency -- especially in cases such as molecular dynamics that span wildly different time scales. Using machine-learning (ML) algorithms to predict trajectories allows one to greatly extend the integration time step, at the cost of introducing artifacts such as lack of energy conservation and loss of equipartition between different degrees of freedom of a system. We propose learning data-driven structure-preserving (symplectic and time-reversible) maps to generate long time-step classical dynamics and show that this method is equivalent to learning the mechanical action of the system of interest. These models can be learned based on short reference trajectories, and be transferred across thermodynamic conditions and chemical composition. We show that an action-derived ML integrator eliminates the pathological behavior of non-structure-preserving ML predictors, and that the method can be applied iteratively, serving as a correction to computationally cheaper direct predictors.
title Learning the action for long-time-step simulations of molecular dynamics
topic Chemical Physics
Materials Science
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.01068