Equation Of State workflow

Description

The EqOfStateFixedCellShape WorkChain is a tool for the calculation of the equation of state of a solid. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations with the SIESTA code are performed at 7 equidistant volumes around a starting volume in order to obtain the energy (E) versus volume (V) data. The starting volume is an optional input of the WorkChain, called volume_per_atom. If the latter is not specified, the input structure volume is use as starting volume. The WorchChain ensure robustness in the convergence of each SIESTA calculation thanks to the fact that each DFT run is submitted through the SiestaBaseWorkChain, that automatically manages some common failures (lack of electronic-structure or geometry relaxation convergence, termination due to walltime restrictions, etc). All the SiestaBaseWorkChain inputs are as well inputs of the EqOfStateFixedCellShape, therefore the system and DFT specifications (structure, parameters, etc.) are inputted in the WorkChain using the same syntax explained in the SiestaBaseWorkChain documentation. As the name of the class suggest, the EqOfStateFixedCellShape is designed to obtain the E(V) curve under the restriction of fixed cell shape. This means that no algorithm for stress minimization is implemented in the WorkChain. However the option relaxation MD.ConstantVolume (see SIESTA manual) might be added into the parameters dictionary to let SIESTA to relax the structure at fixed volume. There is no point, for obvious reasons, to run this WorkChain with the relaxation option MD.VariableCell. This WorkChain also tries to perform a Birch_Murnaghan fit on the calculated E(V) data, following the DeltaProject implementation. If the fit fails, a warning is stored in the report of the WorkChain (accessible through verdi process report <PK>), but the E(V) data for the 7 volumes are always returned, leading to a succesfull termination of the process.

Supported Siesta versions

At least 4.0.1 of the 4.0 series, 4.1-b3 of the 4.1 series and the MaX-1.0 release, which can be found in the development platform (https://gitlab.com/siesta-project/siesta). For more up to date info on compatibility, please check the wiki.

Inputs

  • All the inputs of the SiestaBaseWorkChain, as explained here.
  • volume_per_atom, class Float, Optional

    A decimal number corresponding to the volume per atom around which to perform the equation of state.

  • batch_size, class Int, Optional

    Number of volumes to run at the same time. By default, it is set to one, therefore one volume at the time is submitted

Outputs

  • results_dict Dict

    A dictionary containing a key eos_data that collects the computed E(V) values and relative units of measure. If the Birch-Murnaghan fit is succesfull, also the key fit_res will be present in this disctionary. It reports the following values extracted from the fit: the equilibrium volume (Vo, in Angstom^3/atom), the minimum energy (Eo, in eV/atom), the Bulk Modulus (Bo, in ev/Angstrom^3) and its derivative respect to the presure B1.

  • equilibrium_structure StructureData

    Present only if the Birch-Murnaghan fit is succesfull, it is the AiiDA structure at the equilibrium volume Vo.

Protocol system

The protocol system is available for this WorkChain. The EqOfStateFixedCellShape.inputs_generator() makes available all the methods explained in the protocols documentation, the only difference is that the relaxation type “variable-cell” is not available.