phonon Input Terms

Calculation Metadata

Specifies metadata descriptors common to all calculation styles.

  • branch: A metadata group name that the calculation can be parsed by. Primarily meant for differentiating runs with different settings parameters.

LAMMPS and MPI Commands

Specifies the external commands for running LAMMPS and MPI.

  • lammps_command: The path to the executable for running LAMMPS on your system. Don’t include command line options.

  • mpi_command: The path to the MPI executable and any command line options to use for calling LAMMPS to run in parallel on your system. LAMMPS will run as a serial process if not given.

Interatomic Potential

Specifies the interatomic potential to use and the directory where any associated parameter files are located.

  • potential_file: The path to the potential_LAMMPS or potential_LAMMPS_KIM record that defines the interatomic potential to use for LAMMPS calculations.

  • potential_kim_id: If potential_file is a potential_LAMMPS_KIM record, this allows for the specification of which version of the KIM model to use by specifying a full kim model id. If not given, the newest known version of the kim model will be assumed.

  • potential_kim_potid: Some potential_LAMMPS_KIM records are associated with multiple potential entries. This allows for the clear specification of which potential (by potid) to associate with those kim models.This will affect the list of available symbols for the calculation.

  • potential_dir: The path to the directory containing any potential parameter files (eg. eam.alloy setfl files) that are needed for the potential. If not given, then any required files are expected to be in the working directory where the calculation is executed.

Initial System Configuration

Specifies the file and options to load for the initial atomic configuration.

  • load_file: The path to the initial configuration file to load.

  • load_style: The atomman.load() style indicating the format of the load_file.

  • load_options: A space-delimited list of key-value pairs for optional style-specific arguments used by atomman.load().

  • family: A metadata descriptor for relating the load_file back to the original crystal structure or prototype that the load_file was based on. If not given, will use the family field in load_file if load_style is ‘system_model’, or the file’s name otherwise.

  • symbols: A space-delimited list of the potential’s atom-model symbols to associate with the loaded system’s atom types. Required if load_file does not contain symbol/species information.

  • box_parameters: Specifies new box parameters to scale the loaded configuration by. Can be given either as a list of three or six numbers: ‘a b c’ for orthogonal boxes, or ‘a b c alpha beta gamma’ for triclinic boxes. The a, b, c parameters are in units of length and the alpha, beta, gamma angles are in degrees.

Input/Output Units

Specifies the default units to use for the other input keys and to use for saving to the results file.

  • length_unit: The unit of length to use. Default value is ‘angstrom’.

  • pressure_unit: The unit of pressure to use. Default value is ‘GPa’.

  • energy_unit: The unit of energy to use. Default value is ‘eV’.

  • force_unit: The unit of force to use. Default value is ‘eV/angstrom’.

Run Parameters

  • displacementdistance: Max distance atoms are displaced for the phonon evaluations. Default value is 0.01 angstrom

  • symmetryprecision: Precision tolerance to use for identifying symmetry elements. Default value is 1e-5.

  • numstrains: The number of strain states to evaluate for performing the quasiharmonic approximation. If set to 1, then the quasiharmonic calculations will be skipped. Default value is 11.

  • strainrange: The range of strains to apply for performing the quasiharmonic approximation. Default value is 0.05.

  • sizemults: Multiplication parameters to construct a supercell system. Limited to three values for this calculation. Default valueis 3 3 3.