[QE-users] NEB: Atoms do not get relaxed

Ari P Seitsonen Ari-Paavo.Seitsonen at cnrs.fr
Thu Apr 27 11:40:54 CEST 2023


Dear Giuseppe,

   Thank you for the comment. One of my concerns was that the energy in the 
images does not really change:

grep -w '  4  ' neb.out
          4     -78481.6171806           29.739170            F
          4     -78481.6171811           29.738137            F
          4     -78481.6171811           29.736993            F
          4     -78481.6171811           29.734436            F
          4     -78481.6171812           29.727381            F
          4     -78481.6171809           29.718296            F
          4     -78481.6171808           29.712880            F
          4     -78481.6171810           29.713046            F
          4     -78481.6171810           29.719086            F
          4     -78481.6171811           29.729326            F
          4     -78481.6171812           29.740800            F
          4     -78481.6171805           29.752151            F
          4     -78481.6171812           29.761356            F
          4     -78481.6171812           29.769083            F
          4     -78481.6171805           29.774024            F
          4     -78481.6171812           29.776518            F
          4     -78481.6171800           29.776688            F
          4     -78481.6171811           29.773882            F

There are forces on the atoms, here again on one of them on the fourth 
image:

      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407872    0.00078289   -0.00018719
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407494    0.00078224   -0.00018711
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407554    0.00078237   -0.00018713
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407560    0.00078248   -0.00018709
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407511    0.00078229   -0.00018712
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407619    0.00078255   -0.00018726
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407623    0.00078272   -0.00018718
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407528    0.00078225   -0.00018721
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407564    0.00078257   -0.00018705
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407500    0.00078222   -0.00018713
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407577    0.00078249   -0.00018711
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00406905    0.00078120   -0.00018643
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407551    0.00078243   -0.00018722
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407271    0.00078203   -0.00018711
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407796    0.00078294   -0.00018727
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407607    0.00078266   -0.00018716
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407437    0.00078207   -0.00018715
      atom   84 type  2   force =    -0.00407642    0.00078274   -0.00018719

The 'path length' indeed keeps on increasing - what is this, if the 
energies of the images remain the same?

      initial path length           =  5.0000 bohr
      path length          =  5.000 bohr
      path length          =  5.000 bohr
      path length          =  5.003 bohr
      path length          =  5.013 bohr
      path length          =  5.094 bohr
      path length          =  5.337 bohr
      path length          =  5.702 bohr
      path length          =  6.163 bohr
      path length          =  6.695 bohr
      path length          =  7.277 bohr
      path length          =  7.897 bohr
      path length          =  8.546 bohr
      path length          =  9.216 bohr
      path length          =  9.904 bohr
      path length          = 10.606 bohr
      path length          = 11.321 bohr
      path length          = 12.047 bohr
      path length          = 12.783 bohr

Probably I am doing something really stupid somewhere... I will try to 
look at the source code next and try to understand somewhat better for 
what is done in the code, the meaning of the variables and so on.

     Greetings,

        apsi

-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
   Ari Paavo Seitsonen / Ari.P.Seitsonen at iki.fi / http://www.iki.fi/~apsi/
                             Слава Україні


On Thu, 27 Apr 2023, Giuseppe Mattioli wrote:

>
> Dear Ari
> The NEB is not exactly "stuck"
>
>>      path length          =  8.546 bohr
>>      path length          =  9.216 bohr
>>      path length          =  9.904 bohr
>
> The MEP length keeps increasing. Maybe a look into the trajectory 
> files can tell you what's happening. If any other source of 
> misbehavior can be excluded, try to go ahead (maybe fixing the 
> position of "useless" atoms). I've experienced NEB in large systems 
> converged after several hundreds steps.
> HTH
> Giuseppe
>
> Quoting Ari P Seitsonen <Ari-Paavo.Seitsonen at cnrs.fr>:
>
>> Dear Users,
>>
>>   I have a problem in the calculations with the method NEB: The 
>> atoms do not get relaxed even if there are clearly forces on the 
>> atoms. The electronic structure converges well, and the relaxation 
>> of the ions follows nicely when the NEB is not used.
>>
>>   I have in the input
>>
>> BEGIN
>> BEGIN_PATH_INPUT
>> &PATH
>>   restart_mode      = 'restart'
>>   string_method     = 'neb'
>>   nstep_path        =  30
>>   ds                = 0.2
>>   opt_scheme        = "broyden"
>>   num_of_images     = 8
>>   k_max             = 0.3
>>   k_min             = 0.2
>>   CI_scheme         = "auto"
>> !  minimum_image     = .true.
>>   first_last_opt    = .true.
>>   path_thr          = 0.1
>> /
>> END_PATH_INPUT
>>
>> and
>>
>>  &ions
>>  /
>>
>> I have tried with different values of 'num_of_images', 'k_min' and 
>> 'k_max', with the climbing image and without. One calculation - a 
>> diffusion path of one ad-atom on a surface - worked well, all other 
>> become stuck with the output like:
>>
>>
>>      ------------------------------ iteration  12 
>> ------------------------------
>>
>>      cpu =  0   tcpu =   9589.5    self-consistency for image   1
>>      cpu =  0   tcpu =   9656.9    self-consistency for image   3
>>      cpu =  0   tcpu =   9823.9    self-consistency for image   5
>>      cpu =  0   tcpu =  10043.8    self-consistency for image   7
>>
>>      activation energy (->) =  10.012055 eV
>>      activation energy (<-) =   6.833374 eV
>>
>>      image        energy (eV)        error (eV/A)        frozen
>>
>>          1     -78491.5920678            0.000987            F
>>          2     -78490.3334035            7.018378            F
>>          3     -78486.4101831           18.058881            F
>>          4     -78481.6171805           29.752151            F
>>          5     -78481.5800131           29.996389            F
>>          6     -78485.0169815           13.489042            F
>>          7     -78487.7020649            7.675245            F
>>          8     -78488.4133872            8.072137            F
>>
>>      climbing image =  5
>>
>>      path length          =  8.546 bohr
>>      inter-image distance =  1.221 bohr
>>
>>      ------------------------------ iteration  13 
>> ------------------------------
>>
>>      cpu =  0   tcpu =  10165.0    self-consistency for image   1
>>      cpu =  0   tcpu =  10267.1    self-consistency for image   3
>>      cpu =  0   tcpu =  10487.8    self-consistency for image   5
>>      cpu =  0   tcpu =  10710.2    self-consistency for image   7
>>
>>      activation energy (->) =  10.011390 eV
>>      activation energy (<-) =   6.833374 eV
>>
>>      image        energy (eV)        error (eV/A)        frozen
>>
>>          1     -78491.5914028            0.000493            F
>>          2     -78490.3334036            7.099250            F
>>          3     -78486.4101837           17.820470            F
>>          4     -78481.6171812           29.761356            F
>>          5     -78481.5800130           29.998875            F
>>          6     -78485.0169810           13.636010            F
>>          7     -78487.7020648            7.675132            F
>>          8     -78488.4133870            8.071850            F
>>
>>      climbing image =  5
>>
>>      path length          =  9.216 bohr
>>      inter-image distance =  1.317 bohr
>>
>>      ------------------------------ iteration  14 
>> ------------------------------
>>
>>      cpu =  0   tcpu =  10843.3    self-consistency for image   1
>>      cpu =  0   tcpu =  10962.6    self-consistency for image   3
>>      cpu =  0   tcpu =  11183.6    self-consistency for image   5
>>      cpu =  0   tcpu =  11420.4    self-consistency for image   7
>>
>>      activation energy (->) =  10.011390 eV
>>      activation energy (<-) =   6.833374 eV
>>
>>      image        energy (eV)        error (eV/A)        frozen
>>
>>          1     -78491.5914032            0.000582            F
>>          2     -78490.3334034            7.139704            F
>>          3     -78486.4101836           17.548234            F
>>          4     -78481.6171812           29.769083            F
>>          5     -78481.5800132           29.998295            F
>>          6     -78485.0169814           13.849319            F
>>          7     -78487.7020642            7.669197            F
>>          8     -78488.4133871            8.072137            F
>>
>>      climbing image =  5
>>
>>      path length          =  9.904 bohr
>>      inter-image distance =  1.415 bohr
>>
>>      ------------------------------ iteration  15 
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> ...
>>
>>   So the atoms do not move, the electronic structure is converged in 
>> few iterations, but the energies of individual images change in the 
>> micro-eVs.
>>
>>   Any idea would be appreciated; thank you in advance for any hints.
>>
>>     Greetings,
>>
>>        apsi
>>
>> 
> -=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
>>   Ari Paavo Seitsonen / Ari.P.Seitsonen at iki.fi / http://www.iki.fi/~apsi/
>>                             Слава Україні
>
>
>
> GIUSEPPE MATTIOLI
> CNR - ISTITUTO DI STRUTTURA DELLA MATERIA
> Via Salaria Km 29,300 - C.P. 10
> I-00015 - Monterotondo Scalo (RM)
> Mob (*preferred*) +39 373 7305625
> Tel + 39 06 90672342 - Fax +39 06 90672316
> E-mail: <giuseppe.mattioli at ism.cnr.it>
>
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