Nuclear quantum effects in thermal conductivity from centroid molecular dynamics

We show that the centroid molecular dynamics (CMD) method provides a realistic way to calculate the thermal diffusivity a = λ/ρcV of a quantum mechanical liquid such as para-hydrogen. Once a has been calculated, the thermal conductivity can be obtained from λ = ρcVa, where ρ is the density of the li...

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Main Authors: Sutherland, BJ, Moore, WHD, Manolopoulos, DE
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing 2021
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author Sutherland, BJ
Moore, WHD
Manolopoulos, DE
author_facet Sutherland, BJ
Moore, WHD
Manolopoulos, DE
author_sort Sutherland, BJ
collection OXFORD
description We show that the centroid molecular dynamics (CMD) method provides a realistic way to calculate the thermal diffusivity a = λ/ρcV of a quantum mechanical liquid such as para-hydrogen. Once a has been calculated, the thermal conductivity can be obtained from λ = ρcVa, where ρ is the density of the liquid and cV is the constant-volume heat capacity. The use of this formula requires an accurate quantum mechanical heat capacity cV, which can be obtained from a path integral molecular dynamics simulation. The thermal diffusivity can be calculated either from the decay of the equilibrium density fluctuations in the liquid or by using the Green–Kubo relation to calculate the CMD approximation to λ and then dividing this by the corresponding approximation to ρcV. We show that both approaches give the same results for liquid para-hydrogen and that these results are in good agreement with the experimental measurements of the thermal conductivity over a wide temperature range. In particular, they correctly predict a decrease in the thermal conductivity at low temperatures—an effect that stems from the decrease in the quantum mechanical heat capacity and has eluded previous para-hydrogen simulations. We also show that the method gives equally good agreement with the experimental measurements for the thermal conductivity of normal liquid helium.
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spelling oxford-uuid:1b520a6e-122f-4237-ad41-051df409394b2022-03-26T10:59:43ZNuclear quantum effects in thermal conductivity from centroid molecular dynamicsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:1b520a6e-122f-4237-ad41-051df409394bEnglishSymplectic ElementsAIP Publishing2021Sutherland, BJMoore, WHDManolopoulos, DEWe show that the centroid molecular dynamics (CMD) method provides a realistic way to calculate the thermal diffusivity a = λ/ρcV of a quantum mechanical liquid such as para-hydrogen. Once a has been calculated, the thermal conductivity can be obtained from λ = ρcVa, where ρ is the density of the liquid and cV is the constant-volume heat capacity. The use of this formula requires an accurate quantum mechanical heat capacity cV, which can be obtained from a path integral molecular dynamics simulation. The thermal diffusivity can be calculated either from the decay of the equilibrium density fluctuations in the liquid or by using the Green–Kubo relation to calculate the CMD approximation to λ and then dividing this by the corresponding approximation to ρcV. We show that both approaches give the same results for liquid para-hydrogen and that these results are in good agreement with the experimental measurements of the thermal conductivity over a wide temperature range. In particular, they correctly predict a decrease in the thermal conductivity at low temperatures—an effect that stems from the decrease in the quantum mechanical heat capacity and has eluded previous para-hydrogen simulations. We also show that the method gives equally good agreement with the experimental measurements for the thermal conductivity of normal liquid helium.
spellingShingle Sutherland, BJ
Moore, WHD
Manolopoulos, DE
Nuclear quantum effects in thermal conductivity from centroid molecular dynamics
title Nuclear quantum effects in thermal conductivity from centroid molecular dynamics
title_full Nuclear quantum effects in thermal conductivity from centroid molecular dynamics
title_fullStr Nuclear quantum effects in thermal conductivity from centroid molecular dynamics
title_full_unstemmed Nuclear quantum effects in thermal conductivity from centroid molecular dynamics
title_short Nuclear quantum effects in thermal conductivity from centroid molecular dynamics
title_sort nuclear quantum effects in thermal conductivity from centroid molecular dynamics
work_keys_str_mv AT sutherlandbj nuclearquantumeffectsinthermalconductivityfromcentroidmoleculardynamics
AT moorewhd nuclearquantumeffectsinthermalconductivityfromcentroidmoleculardynamics
AT manolopoulosde nuclearquantumeffectsinthermalconductivityfromcentroidmoleculardynamics