LAMDA: Aiding Visual Exploration of Atomic Displacements in Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Hnatyshyn, Rostyslav, Perez, Danny, Scheuermann, Gerik, Maciejewski, Ross, Nsonga, Baldwin
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866912824960221184
author Hnatyshyn, Rostyslav
Perez, Danny
Scheuermann, Gerik
Maciejewski, Ross
Nsonga, Baldwin
author_facet Hnatyshyn, Rostyslav
Perez, Danny
Scheuermann, Gerik
Maciejewski, Ross
Nsonga, Baldwin
contents Contemporary materials science research is heavily conducted in silico, involving massive simulations of the atomic-scale evolution of materials. Cataloging basic patterns in the atomic displacements is key to understanding and predicting the evolution of physical properties. However, the combinatorial complexity of the space of possible transitions coupled with the overwhelming amount of data being produced by high-throughput simulations make such an analysis extremely challenging and time-consuming for domain experts. The development of visual analytics systems that facilitate the exploration of simulation data is an active field of research. While these systems excel in identifying temporal regions of interest, they treat each timestep of a simulation as an independent event without considering the behavior of the atomic displacements between timesteps. We address this gap by introducing LAMDA, a visual analytics system that allows domain experts to quickly and systematically explore state-to-state transitions. In LAMDA, transitions are hierarchically categorized, providing a basis for cataloging displacement behavior, as well as enabling the analysis of simulations at different resolutions, ranging from very broad qualitative classes of transitions to very narrow definitions of unit processes. LAMDA supports navigating the hierarchy of transitions, enabling scientists to visualize the commonalities between different transitions in each class in terms of invariant features characterizing local atomic environments, and LAMDA simplifies the analysis by capturing user inputs through annotations. We evaluate our system through a case study and report on findings from our domain experts.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_09887
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle LAMDA: Aiding Visual Exploration of Atomic Displacements in Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Hnatyshyn, Rostyslav
Perez, Danny
Scheuermann, Gerik
Maciejewski, Ross
Nsonga, Baldwin
Human-Computer Interaction
Contemporary materials science research is heavily conducted in silico, involving massive simulations of the atomic-scale evolution of materials. Cataloging basic patterns in the atomic displacements is key to understanding and predicting the evolution of physical properties. However, the combinatorial complexity of the space of possible transitions coupled with the overwhelming amount of data being produced by high-throughput simulations make such an analysis extremely challenging and time-consuming for domain experts. The development of visual analytics systems that facilitate the exploration of simulation data is an active field of research. While these systems excel in identifying temporal regions of interest, they treat each timestep of a simulation as an independent event without considering the behavior of the atomic displacements between timesteps. We address this gap by introducing LAMDA, a visual analytics system that allows domain experts to quickly and systematically explore state-to-state transitions. In LAMDA, transitions are hierarchically categorized, providing a basis for cataloging displacement behavior, as well as enabling the analysis of simulations at different resolutions, ranging from very broad qualitative classes of transitions to very narrow definitions of unit processes. LAMDA supports navigating the hierarchy of transitions, enabling scientists to visualize the commonalities between different transitions in each class in terms of invariant features characterizing local atomic environments, and LAMDA simplifies the analysis by capturing user inputs through annotations. We evaluate our system through a case study and report on findings from our domain experts.
title LAMDA: Aiding Visual Exploration of Atomic Displacements in Molecular Dynamics Simulations
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.09887