A web-deployed interface for performing ab initio molecular dynamics, optimization, and electronic structure in Fireball

Abstract

Fireball is an ab initio technique for fast local orbital simulations of nanotechnological, solid state, and biological systems. We have implemented a convenient interface for new users and software architects in the platform-independent Java language to access Fireball's unique and powerful capabilities. The graphical user interface can be run directly from a web server or from within a larger framework such as the Computational Science and Engineering Online (CSE-Online) environment or the Distributed Analysis of Neutron Scattering Experiments (DANSE) framework. We demonstrate its use for high-throughput electronic structure calculations and a multi-100 atom quantum molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Program summary Program title: FireballUI Catalogue identifier: AECF_v1_0 Program summary URL: http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AECF_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.html No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 279 784 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 12 836 145 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Java Computer: PC and workstation Operating system: The GUI will run under Windows, Mac and Linux. Executables for Mac and Linux are included in the package. RAM: 512 MB Word size: 32 or 64 bits Classification: 4.14 Nature of problem: The set up and running of many simulations (all of the same type), from the command line, is a slow process. But most research quality codes, including the ab initio tight-binding code FIREBALL, are designed to run from the command line. The desire is to have a method for quickly and efficiently setting up and running a host of simulations. Solution method: We have created a graphical user interface for use with the FIREBALL code. Once the user has created the files containing the atomic coordinates for each system that they are going to run a simulation on, the user can set up and start the computations of up to hundreds of simulations. Running time: 3 to 5 minutes on a 2 GHz Pentium IV processor.