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U.S. Department of Energy
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Performant implementation of the atomic cluster expansion

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1772296· OSTI ID:1772296
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [2];  [4];  [1]
  1. Ruhr Univ., Bochum (Germany). ICAMS
  2. Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
  3. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Center for Computing Research
  4. Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Canada). Dept. of Mathematics

The atomic cluster expansion is a general polynomial expansion of the atomic energy in multi-atom basis functions. Here we implement the atomic cluster expansion in the performant C++ code PACE that is suitable for use in large scale atomistic simulations. We briefly review the atomic cluster expansion and give detailed expressions for energies and forces as well as efficient algorithms for their evaluation. We demonstrate that the atomic cluster expansion as implemented in PACE shifts a previously established Pareto front for machine learning interatomic potentials towards faster and more accurate calculations. Moreover, general purpose parameterizations are presented for copper and silicon and evaluated in detail. We show that the new Cu and Si potentials significantly improve on the best available potentials for highly accurate large-scale atomistic simulations.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525
OSTI ID:
1772296
Report Number(s):
SAND-2021-3200R; 694848; TRN: US2215346
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English