Fast quasi-centroid molecular dynamics for water and ice

Abstract: We describe how the fast quasi-centroid molecular dynamics (f-QCMD) method can be applied to condensed phase systems by approximating the quasi-centroid potential of mean force as a sum of inter- and intra-molecular corrections to the classical interaction potential. The corrections are found by using a regularised iterative Boltzmann inversion procedure to recover the inter- and intra-molecular quasi-centroid distribution functions obtained from a path integral molecular dynamics simulation. The resulting methodology is found to give good agreement with a previously published QCMD dipole absorption spectrum for liquid water, and satisfactory agreement for ice. It also gives good agreement with spectra from a recent implementation of CMD that uses a pre-computed elevated temperature potential of mean force. Modern centroid molecular dynamics methods therefore appear to be reaching a consensus regarding the impact of nuclear quantum effects on the vibrational spectra of water and ice.