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Obtaining a sufficient sampling of conformational space is a common problem in molecular simulation. We present the implementation of an umbrella-like adaptive sampling approach based on function-based meshless discretization of conformational space that is compatible with state of the art molecular dynamics code and that integrates an eigenvector-based clustering approach for conformational analysis and the computation of inter-conformational transition rates. The approach is applied to three example systems, namely n-pentane, alanine dipeptide, and a small synthetic host-guest system, the latter two including explicitly modeled solvent.
Decomposition of the high dimensional conformational space of bio-molecules into metastable subsets is used for data reduction of long molecular trajectories in order to facilitate chemical analysis and to improve convergence of simulations within these subsets. The metastability is identified by the Perron-cluster cluster analysis of a Markov process that generates the thermodynamic distribution. A necessary prerequisite of this analysis is the discretization of the conformational space. A combinatorial approach via discretization of each degree of freedom will end in the so called ''curse of dimension''. In the following paper we analyze Hybrid Monte Carlo simulations of small, drug-like biomolecules and focus on the dihedral degrees of freedom as indicators of conformational changes. To avoid the ''curse of dimension'', the projection of the underlying Markov operator on each dihedral is analyzed according to its metastability. In each decomposition step of a recursive procedure, those significant dihedrals, which indicate high metastability, are used for further decomposition. The procedure is introduced as part of a hierarchical protocol of simulations at different temperatures. The convergence of simulations within metastable subsets is used as an ''a posteriori'' criterion for a successful identification of metastability. All results are presented with the visualization program AmiraMol.
The key to molecular conformation dynamics is the direct identification of metastable conformations, which are almost invariant sets of molecular dynamical systems. Once some reversible Markov operator has been discretized, a generalized symmetric stochastic matrix arises. This matrix can be treated by Perron cluster analysis, a rather recent method involving a Perron cluster eigenproblem. The paper presents an improved Perron cluster analysis algorithm, which is more robust than earlier suggestions. Numerical examples are included.
Finding metastable sets as dominant structures of Markov processes has been shown to be especially useful in modeling interesting slow dynamics of various real world complex processes. Furthermore, coarse graining of such processes based on their dominant structures leads to better understanding and dimension reduction of observed systems. However, in many cases, e.g. for nonreversible Markov processes, dominant structures are often not formed by metastable sets but by important cycles or mixture of both. This paper aims at understanding and identifying these different types of dominant structures for reversible as well as nonreversible ergodic Markov processes. Our algorithmic approach generalizes spectral based methods for reversible process by using Schur decomposition techniques which can tackle also nonreversible cases. We illustrate the mathematical construction of our new approach by numerical experiments.
Given a time-dependent stochastic process with trajectories x(t) in a space $\Omega$, there may be sets such that the corresponding trajectories only very rarely cross the boundaries of these sets. We can analyze such a process in terms of metastability or coherence. Metastable sets M are defined in space $M\subset\Omega$, coherent sets $M(t)\subset\Omega$ are defined in space and time. Hence, if we extend the space by the time-variable t, coherent sets are metastable sets in $\Omega\times[0,\infty]$. This relation can be exploited, because there already exist spectral algorithms for the identification of metastable sets. In this article we show that these well-established spectral algorithms (like PCCA+) also identify coherent sets of non-autonomous dynamical systems. For the identification of coherent sets, one has to compute a discretization (a matrix T) of the transfer operator of the process using a space-timediscretization scheme. The article gives an overview about different time-discretization schemes and shows their applicability in two different fields of application.
Particle methods have become indispensible in conformation dynamics to
compute transition rates in protein folding, binding processes and
molecular design, to mention a few.
Conformation dynamics requires at a decomposition of a molecule's position
space into metastable conformations.
In this paper, we show how this decomposition
can be obtained via the design of either ``soft'' or ``hard''
molecular conformations.
We show, that the soft approach results in a larger metastabilitiy of
the decomposition and is thus more advantegous. This is illustrated
by a simulation of Alanine Dipeptide.
Spectral clustering methods are based on solving eigenvalue problems for the identification of clusters, e.g. the identification of metastable subsets of a Markov chain. Usually, real-valued eigenvectors are mandatory for this type of algorithms. The Perron Cluster Analysis (PCCA+) is a well-known spectral clustering method of Markov chains. It is applicable for reversible Markov chains, because reversibility implies a real-valued spectrum. We also extend this spectral clustering method to non-reversible Markov chains and give some illustrative examples. The main idea is to replace the eigenvalue problem by a real-valued Schur decomposition. By this extension non-reversible Markov chains can be analyzed. Furthermore, the chains do not need to have a positive stationary distribution. In addition to metastabilities, dominant cycles and sinks can also be identified. This novel method is called GenPCCA (i.e.
Generalized PCCA), since it includes the case of non reversible processes.
We also apply the method to real world eye tracking data.
Wigner transformation provides a one-to-one correspondence between functions on position space (wave functions) and functions on phase space (Wigner functions). Weighted integrals of Wigner functions yield quadratic quantities of wave functions like position and momentum densities or expectation values. For molecular quantum systems, suitably modified classical transport of Wigner functions provides an asymptotic approximation of the dynamics in the high energy regime. The article addresses the computation of Wigner functions by Monte Carlo quadrature. An ad aption of the Metropolis algorithm for the approximation of signed measures with disconnected support is systematically tested in combination with a surface hopping algorithm for non-adiabatic quantum dynamics. The numerical experiments give expectation values and level populations with an error of two to three percent, which agrees with the theoretically expected accuracy.
The complexity of molecular kinetics can be reduced significantly by a restriction to metastable conformations which are almost invariant sets of molecular dynamical systems. With the Robust Perron Cl uster Analysis PCCA+, developed by Weber and Deuflhard, we have a tool available which can be used to identify these conformations from a transition probability matrix. This method can also be applied to the corresponding transition rate matrix which provides important information concerning transition pathways of single molecules. In the present paper, we explain the relationship between these tw o concepts and the extraction of conformation kinetics from transition rates. Moreover, we show how transition rates can be approximated and conclude with numerical examples.
The dynamic behavior of molecules can often be described by Markov processes. From computational molecular simulations one can derive transition rates or transition probabilities between subsets of the discretized conformational space. On the basis of this dynamic information, the spatial subsets are combined into a small number of so-called metastable molecular conformations. This is done by clustering methods like the Robust Perron Cluster Analysis (PCCA+). Up to now it is an open question how this coarse graining in space can be transformed to a coarse graining of the Markov chain while preserving the essential dynamic information. In the following article we aim at a consistent coarse graining of transition probabilities or rates on the basis of metastable conformations such that important physical and mathematical relations are preserved. This approach is new because PCCA+ computes molecular conformations as linear combinations of the dominant eigenvectors of the transition matrix which does not hold for other clustering methods.