Physics Colloquium: From Levinthal’s paradox to the enigma of missing structures: Using Minima Hopping to gain insight into potential energy landscapes
Time
Tuesday, 9. April 2024
15:15 - 16:45
Location
P 603 followed by soft drinks, juices and snacks
Organizer
Host: Prof Odet Zilberberg / Organisation: Prof Clemens Bechinger
Speaker:
Prof. Dr. Stefan Goedecker / Philosophisch-NaturwissenschaftlicheFakultät, Physik, Universität Basel
The potential energy surface of molecules and solids is a complex high-dimensional
function with a huge number of minima. The global minimum represents the ground state
and all other minima meta-stable structures. I will first discuss whether and how
these minima can be found in computer simulations. The next question is then whether
nature can always find theoretically discovered structures. I will present a system,
namely the $Si_{20H}_{20}$ dodecahedron, which can not find its ground state on
a realistic experimental time scale. I will also present solids which are frozen
into meta-stable structures and can not relax into their zero temperature ground state
on an expermental time scale. Finally, I will discuss methods to find transformation
pathways between different structures.