<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
  </head>
  <body>
    Hi Giovanni, <br>
    <br>
    thank you for your help. <br>
    Actually I already tried to start the calculations with different
    smearing values, or different mixing schemes. I also tried to add
    small perturbations to the ionic positions, because I initially
    thought that I was caught in the a "weird" state. But with no
    improvements. <br>
    I do not understand the issue, because if I start the calculations
    with the atomic positions obtained after the first ionic relaxation
    step, the scf calculation ran fine. It seems to me that if
    'pot_extrapolation=none' and 'wfc_extrpolation =none', the scf
    calculation at the n+1 ionic relaxation step does not use
    information from the electronic structure relaxed at ionic step n
    (i.e. it is equivalent to running a scf calculation from scratch).
    Is somebody can confirm this aspect (or explain to me how and why I
    am wrong?) ?<br>
    <br>
    Best regards<br>
    <br>
    Laurent<br>
      <br>
    <br>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 19/12/2023 10:29, Giovanni Cantele
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAG=KO1F9SBKRq-qESNnsvgvGSXWJXvY8468ZbFMYmcELaexyUg@mail.gmail.com">
      <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
      <div dir="ltr">
        <div>
          <div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"
            data-smartmail="gmail_signature">
            <div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">Hi, I do not
                have a precise explanation of that, but I can say that I
                found such a behavior several times, in the years,</span></div>
            <div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">for completely different
                systems. </span></div>
            <div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">And this concerns not
                only the convergence of the scf step, but also the
                relaxation</span></div>
            <div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">of the atomic
                positions. </span></div>
            <div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">At some iteration it
                seems that the algorithm falls in some "potential well"
                and cannot exit it at all.</span></div>
            <div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br>
              </span></div>
            <div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">In this respect, it
                helps often just to restart the calculation from scratch
                using one of the last coordinate sets found by</span></div>
            <div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">the pw.x, or in some
                cases restart the code introducing in the coordinates
                even very small perturbations (e.g. delete the</span></div>
            <div><font color="#000000">digits from the fourth to the
                last). In other cases, you might try to increase the
                smearing, even just for a few steps, mostly if</font></div>
            <div><font color="#000000">the problem is the convergence of
                the scf cycle.</font></div>
            <div><font color="#000000">This is just empirical, but it is
                the signature for tricky calculations (where there is no
                parameter</font></div>
            <div><font color="#000000">to identify when a calculation is
                going to become "tricky"!), where the presence of local
                minima or other numerically hard problems, </font></div>
            <div><font color="#000000">either with respect to the
                charge density or with respect to the atomic positions,
                can make the convergence non as easy as expected.</font></div>
            <div><font color="#000000"><br>
              </font></div>
            <div><font color="#000000">Maybe, someone more expert might
                add some more specific hints.</font></div>
            <div><font color="#000000"><br>
              </font></div>
            <div><font color="#000000">Giovanni</font></div>
            <div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br>
              </span></div>
            <div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">-- <br>
                <br>
                Giovanni Cantele, PhD<br>
                CNR-SPIN<br>
                c/o Dipartimento di Fisica<br>
                Universita' di Napoli "Federico II"<br>
                Complesso Universitario M. S. Angelo - Ed. 6<br>
                Via Cintia, I-80126, Napoli, Italy<br>
                <a href="mailto:giovanni.cantele@spin.cnr.it"
                  style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank"
                  moz-do-not-send="true">e-mail:
                  giovanni.cantele@spin.cnr.it</a><br>
                Phone: +39 081 676910<br>
                Skype contact: giocan74<br>
                <br>
                ResearcherID: <a
                  href="http://www.researcherid.com/rid/A-1951-2009"
                  style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank"
                  moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://www.researcherid.com/rid/A-1951-2009</a><br>
                Web page: </span><a
href="https://sites.google.com/view/giovanni-cantele/home"
                style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank"
                moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://sites.google.com/view/giovanni-cantele/home</a><br>
            </div>
          </div>
        </div>
        <br>
      </div>
      <br>
      <div class="gmail_quote">
        <div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">Il giorno mar 19 dic 2023 alle
          ore 08:49 Laurent Pizzagalli <<a
            href="mailto:laurent.pizzagalli@univ-poitiers.fr"
            moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">laurent.pizzagalli@univ-poitiers.fr</a>>
          ha scritto:<br>
        </div>
        <blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Dear
          all,<br>
          <br>
          I came across an issue I never encountered before. I performed
          a simple <br>
          ionic relaxation of a W cluster. The initial scf convergence
          is <br>
          achieved, the ionic forces are calculated (and are reasonable
          for a <br>
          first ionic relaxation step) and the new atomic positions are
          obtained. <br>
          The issue arises during the next scf calculation, which
          diverges in a <br>
          few steps. However, if I start a new calculation with the
          updated ionic <br>
          positions as input structure, the scf calculation runs
          smoothly and <br>
          converges (but the issue occurred again for the next ionic
          relaxation <br>
          steps).<br>
          I obtained the same behavior with two different pw.x versions
          (6.7 and <br>
          7.1). I also tried to set 'pot_extrapolation = none', but with
          no <br>
          difference...<br>
          <br>
          Do any of you have an idea about the origin (and solution) of
          this issue ?<br>
          <br>
          Thanks<br>
          <br>
          Laurent<br>
          <br>
          -- <br>
                                                                  ,,,   
           __,<br>
                                                                 /'^'\ 
           |__|<br>
                                                                ( o o ) 
          |<br>
--------------------------------------------------oOOO--(_)--OO|o------<br>
          <<a href="mailto:Laurent.Pizzagalli@univ-poitiers.fr"
            target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
            class="moz-txt-link-freetext">Laurent.Pizzagalli@univ-poitiers.fr</a>><br>
          <a href="http://laurent.pizzagalli.free.fr/" rel="noreferrer"
            target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
            class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://laurent.pizzagalli.free.fr/</a> 
                    Tel +33 549 49 74 99<br>
          ------------------------------------------    Fax +33 549 49
          66 92<br>
          Institut P'<br>
          Departement de Physique et de Mécanique des Matériaux<br>
          CNRS UPR 3346<br>
          Université de Poitiers<br>
          SP2MI<br>
          TSA 41123                                          .oooO<br>
          86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, FRANCE                     (   ) 
           Oooo.<br>
          ----------------------------------------------------\ (----( 
           )-------<br>
                                                                \_)    )
          /<br>
                                                                     
          (_/<br>
          <br>
          _______________________________________________<br>
          The Quantum ESPRESSO community stands by the Ukrainian<br>
          people and expresses its concerns about the devastating<br>
          effects that the Russian military offensive has on their<br>
          country and on the free and peaceful scientific, cultural,<br>
          and economic cooperation amongst peoples<br>
          _______________________________________________<br>
          Quantum ESPRESSO is supported by MaX (<a
            href="http://www.max-centre.eu" rel="noreferrer"
            target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">www.max-centre.eu</a>)<br>
          users mailing list <a
            href="mailto:users@lists.quantum-espresso.org"
            target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
            class="moz-txt-link-freetext">users@lists.quantum-espresso.org</a><br>
          <a
href="https://lists.quantum-espresso.org/mailman/listinfo/users"
            rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
            class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://lists.quantum-espresso.org/mailman/listinfo/users</a></blockquote>
      </div>
      <br>
      <fieldset class="moz-mime-attachment-header"></fieldset>
      <pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">_______________________________________________
The Quantum ESPRESSO community stands by the Ukrainian
people and expresses its concerns about the devastating
effects that the Russian military offensive has on their
country and on the free and peaceful scientific, cultural,
and economic cooperation amongst peoples
_______________________________________________
Quantum ESPRESSO is supported by MaX (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.max-centre.eu">www.max-centre.eu</a>)
users mailing list <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:users@lists.quantum-espresso.org">users@lists.quantum-espresso.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lists.quantum-espresso.org/mailman/listinfo/users">https://lists.quantum-espresso.org/mailman/listinfo/users</a></pre>
    </blockquote>
    <br>
    <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
                                                       ,,,     __,
                                                      /'^'\   |__|
                                                     ( o o )  |
--------------------------------------------------oOOO--(_)--OO|o------
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:Laurent.Pizzagalli@univ-poitiers.fr"><Laurent.Pizzagalli@univ-poitiers.fr></a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://laurent.pizzagalli.free.fr/">http://laurent.pizzagalli.free.fr/</a>            Tel +33 549 49 74 99
------------------------------------------    Fax +33 549 49 66 92
Institut P'                                   
Departement de Physique et de Mécanique des Matériaux
CNRS UPR 3346 
Université de Poitiers
SP2MI
TSA 41123                                          .oooO
86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, FRANCE                     (   )   Oooo.
----------------------------------------------------\ (----(   )-------
                                                     \_)    ) /
                                                           (_/</pre>
  </body>
</html>