Quantum mechanics

Colloid

Engineering

SPHERES

Aerospace engineering

Discrete event simulation

Materials science

Soft matter

Event (particle physics)

Nuclear magnetic resonance

Range (aeronautics)

Set (abstract data type)

Computer science

Code (set theory)

Statistical physics

Physical chemistry

Atomic packing factor

Thermodynamics

Physics

Simulation

Astronomy

Molecular dynamics

Composite material

Chemistry

Programming language

Nucleation

Hard spheres

The European Physical Journal E

Hard spheres are arguably one of the most fundamental model systems in soft matter physics, and hence a common topic of simulation studies. Event-driven simulation methods provide an efficient method for studying the phase behavior and dynamics of hard spheres under a wide range of different conditions. Here, we examine the impact of several optimization strategies for speeding up event-driven molecular dynamics of hard spheres and present a light-weight simulation code that outperforms existing simulation codes over a large range of system sizes and packing fractions. The presented differences in simulation speed, typically a factor of five to ten, save significantly on both CPU time and energy consumption and may be a crucial factor for studying slow processes such as crystal nucleation and glassy dynamics.

Efficient event-driven simulations of hard spheres