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37 In this chapter different ways of analyzing your trajectory are described.
38 The names of the corresponding analysis programs are given.
39 Specific information on the in- and output of these programs can be found
40 in the online manual at
{\wwwpage}.
41 The output files are often produced as finished Grace/Xmgr graphs.
43 First, in
\secref{usinggroups
}, the group concept in analysis is explained.
44 \ssecref{selections
} explains a newer concept of dynamic selections,
45 which is currently supported by a few tools.
46 Then, the different analysis tools are presented.
48 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Groups in Analysis
50 \section{Using Groups
}
51 \label{sec:usinggroups
}\index{groups
}
52 {\tt gmx make_ndx, gmx mk_angndx, gmx select
}\\
53 In
\chref{algorithms
}, it was explained how
{\em groups of
54 atoms
} can be used in
{\tt mdrun
} (see~
\secref{groupconcept
}).
55 In most analysis programs, groups
56 of atoms must also be chosen. Most programs can generate several default
57 index groups, but groups can always be read from an index file. Let's
58 consider the example of a simulation of a binary mixture of components A and B. When
59 we want to calculate the radial distribution function (RDF)
60 $g_
{AB
}(r)$ of A with respect to B, we have to calculate:
62 4\pi r^
2 g_
{AB
}(r) ~=~ V~
\sum_{i
\in A
}^
{N_A
} \sum_{j
\in B
}^
{N_B
} P(r)
64 where $V$ is the volume and $P(r)$ is the probability of finding a B atom
65 at distance $r$ from an A atom.
67 By having the user define the
{\em atom numbers
} for groups A and B in
68 a simple file, we can calculate this $g_
{AB
}$ in the most general way, without
69 having to make any assumptions in the RDF program about the type of
72 Groups can therefore consist of a series of
{\em atom numbers
}, but in
73 some cases also of
{\em molecule numbers
}. It is also possible to
74 specify a series of angles by
{\em triples
} of
{\em atom numbers
},
75 dihedrals by
{\em quadruples
} of
{\em atom numbers
} and bonds or
76 vectors (in a molecule) by
{\em pairs
} of
{\em atom numbers
}. When
77 appropriate the type of index file will be specified for the following
78 analysis programs. To help creating such
\swapindex{index
}{file
}s (
{\tt
79 index.ndx
}), there are a couple of programs to generate them, using
80 either your input configuration or the topology. To generate an
81 index file consisting of a series of
{\em atom numbers
} (as in the
82 example of $g_
{AB
}$), use
{\tt \normindex{gmx make_ndx
}} or
83 {\tt \normindex{gmx select
}}. To generate an index file
84 with angles or dihedrals, use
{\tt \normindex{gmx mk_angndx
}}.
85 Of course you can also
86 make them by hand. The general format is presented here:
97 First, the group name is written between square brackets. The following
98 atom numbers may be spread out over as many lines as you like. The
99 atom numbering starts at
1.
101 \swapindexquiet{choosing
}{groups
}%
102 Each tool that can use groups will offer the available alternatives
103 for the user to choose. That choice can be made with the number of the
104 group, or its name. In fact, the first few letters of the group
105 name will suffice if that will distinguish the group from all others.
106 There are ways to use Unix shell features to choose group names
107 on the command line, rather than interactively. Consult
{\wwwpage}
110 \subsection{Default Groups
}
111 \label{subsec:defaultgroups
}
112 When no index file is supplied to analysis tools or
{\tt grompp
},
113 a number of
\swapindex{default
}{groups
} are generated to choose from:
115 \item[{\tt System
}]\mbox{}\\
116 all atoms in the system
117 \item[{\tt Protein
}]\mbox{}\\
119 \item[{\tt Protein-H
}]\mbox{}\\
120 protein atoms excluding hydrogens
121 \item[{\tt C-alpha
}]\mbox{}\\
123 \item[{\tt Backbone
}]\mbox{}\\
124 protein backbone atoms; N, C$_
{\alpha}$ and C
125 \item[{\tt MainChain
}]\mbox{}\\
126 protein main chain atoms: N, C$_
{\alpha}$, C and O, including
127 oxygens in C-terminus
128 \item[{\tt MainChain+Cb
}]\mbox{}\\
129 protein main chain atoms including C$_
{\beta}$
130 \item[{\tt MainChain+H
}]\mbox{}\\
131 protein main chain atoms including backbone amide hydrogens and
132 hydrogens on the N-terminus
133 \item[{\tt SideChain
}]\mbox{}\\
134 protein side chain atoms; that is all atoms except N,
135 C$_
{\alpha}$, C, O, backbone amide hydrogens, oxygens in
136 C-terminus and hydrogens on the N-terminus
137 \item[{\tt SideChain-H
}]\mbox{}\\
138 protein side chain atoms excluding all hydrogens
139 \item[{\tt Prot-Masses
}]\mbox{}\\
140 protein atoms excluding dummy masses (as used in virtual site
141 constructions of NH$_3$ groups and tryptophan side-chains),
142 see also
\secref{vsitetop
}; this group is only included when
143 it differs from the ``
{\tt Protein
}'' group
144 \item[{\tt Non-Protein
}]\mbox{}\\
145 all non-protein atoms
146 \item[{\tt DNA
}]\mbox{}\\
148 \item[{\tt RNA
}]\mbox{}\\
150 \item[{\tt Water
}]\mbox{}\\
151 water molecules (names like
{\tt SOL
},
{\tt WAT
},
{\tt HOH
}, etc.) See
152 {\tt \normindex{residuetypes.dat
}} for a full listing
153 \item[{\tt non-Water
}]\mbox{}\\
154 anything not covered by the
{\tt Water
} group
155 \item[{\tt Ion
}]\mbox{}\\
156 any name matching an Ion entry in
{\tt \normindex{residuetypes.dat
}}
157 \item[{\tt Water_and_Ions
}]\mbox{}\\
158 combination of the
{\tt Water
} and
{\tt Ions
} groups
159 \item[{\tt molecule_name
}]\mbox{}\\
160 for all residues/molecules which are not recognized as protein,
161 DNA, or RNA; one group per residue/molecule name is generated
162 \item[{\tt Other
}]\mbox{}\\
163 all atoms which are neither protein, DNA, nor RNA.
165 Empty groups will not be generated.
166 Most of the groups only contain protein atoms.
167 An atom is considered a protein atom if its residue name is listed
168 in the
{\tt \normindex{residuetypes.dat
}} file and is listed as a
169 ``Protein'' entry. The process for determinding DNA, RNA, etc. is
170 analogous. If you need to modify these classifications, then you
171 can copy the file from the library directory into your working
172 directory and edit the local copy.
174 \subsection{Selections
}
175 \label{subsec:selections
}
176 {\tt \normindex{gmx select
}}\\
177 Currently, a few analysis tools support an extended concept of
{\em
178 (dynamic)
\normindex{selections
}}. There are three main differences to
179 traditional index groups:
181 \item The selections are specified as text instead of reading fixed
182 atom indices from a file, using a syntax similar to VMD. The text
183 can be entered interactively, provided on the command line, or from
185 \item The selections are not restricted to atoms, but can also specify
186 that the analysis is to be performed on, e.g., center-of-mass
187 positions of a group of atoms.
188 Some tools may not support selections that do not evaluate to single
189 atoms, e.g., if they require information that is available only for
190 single atoms, like atom names or types.
191 \item The selections can be dynamic, i.e., evaluate to different atoms
192 for different trajectory frames. This allows analyzing only a
193 subset of the system that satisfies some geometric criteria.
195 As an example of a simple selection,
196 {\tt resname ABC and within
2 of resname DEF
}
197 selects all atoms in residues named ABC that are within
2\,nm of any
198 atom in a residue named DEF.
200 Tools that accept selections can also use traditional index files
201 similarly to older tools: it is possible to give an
{\tt .ndx
} file to
202 the tool, and directly select a group from the index file as a
203 selection, either by group number or by group name. The index groups
204 can also be used as a part of a more complicated selection.
206 To get started, you can run
{\tt gmx select
} with a single structure,
207 and use the interactive prompt to try out different selections.
208 The tool provides, among others, output options
{\tt -on
} and
209 {\tt -ofpdb
} to write out the selected atoms to an index file and to a
210 {\tt .pdb
} file, respectively. This does not allow testing selections
211 that evaluate to center-of-mass positions, but other selections can be
212 tested and the result examined.
214 The detailed syntax and the individual keywords that can be used in
215 selections can be accessed by typing
{\tt help
} in the interactive
216 prompt of any selection-enabled tool, as well as with
217 {\tt gmx help selections
}. The help is divided into subtopics that can
218 be accessed with, e.g.,
{\tt help syntax
} /
{\tt gmx help selections
219 syntax
}. Some individual selection keywords have extended help as well,
220 which can be accessed with, e.g.,
{\tt help keywords within
}.
222 The interactive prompt does not currently provide much editing
223 capabilities. If you need them, you can run the program under
226 For tools that do not yet support the selection syntax, you can use
227 {\tt gmx select -on
} to generate static index groups to pass to the
228 tool. However, this only allows for a small subset (only the first
229 bullet from the above list) of the flexibility that fully
230 selection-aware tools offer.
232 It is also possible to write your own analysis
233 tools to take advantage of the flexibility of these selections: see the
234 {\tt template.cpp
} file in the
{\tt share/gromacs/template
} directory of
235 your installation for an example.
237 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Looking at your trajectory
239 \section{Looking at your trajectory
}
240 \label{sec:lookwhostalking
}
243 {\includegraphics[width=
8cm,angle=
90]{plots/ngmxdump
}}}
244 \caption{The window of
{\tt gmx view
} showing a box of water.
}
248 Before analyzing your trajectory it is often informative to look at
249 your trajectory first.
{\gromacs} comes with a simple trajectory
250 viewer
{\tt \normindex{gmx view
}}; the advantage with this one is that it does not
251 require OpenGL, which usually isn't present on
{\eg} supercomputers.
252 It is also possible to generate a
253 hard-copy in Encapsulated Postscript format (see
254 \figref{ngmxdump
}). If you want a faster and more fancy viewer
255 there are several programs
256 that can read the
{\gromacs} trajectory formats -- have a look at our
257 homepage (
{\wwwpage}) for updated links.
259 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% General properties
261 \section{General properties
}
263 {\tt gmx energy, gmx traj
}\\
264 To analyze some or all
{\em energies
} and other properties, such as
265 {\em total pressure
},
{\em pressure tensor
},
{\em density
},
{\em
266 box-volume
} and
{\em box-sizes
}, use the program
{\tt \normindex{gmx energy
}}. A
267 choice can be made from a list a set of energies, like potential,
268 kinetic or total energy, or individual contributions, like
269 Lennard-Jones or dihedral energies.
271 The
{\em center-of-mass velocity
}, defined as
273 {\bf v
}_
{com
} =
{1 \over M
} \sum_{i=
1}^N m_i
{\bf v
}_i
275 with $M =
\sum_{i=
1}^N m_i$ the total mass of the system, can be
276 monitored in time by the program
{\tt \normindex{gmx traj
} -com -ov
}. It is however
277 recommended to remove the center-of-mass velocity every step (see
280 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Radial distribution functions
282 \section{Radial distribution functions
}
285 The
{\em radial distribution function
} (RDF) or pair correlation
286 function $g_
{AB
}(r)$ between particles of type $A$ and $B$ is defined
287 in the following way:
288 \newcommand{\dfrac}[2]{\displaystyle \frac{#1}{#2}}
291 g_
{AB
}(r)&=&
\dfrac{\langle \rho_B(r)
\rangle}{\langle\rho_B\rangle_{local
}} \\
292 &=&
\dfrac{1}{\langle\rho_B\rangle_{local
}}\dfrac{1}{N_A
}
293 \sum_{i
\in A
}^
{N_A
} \sum_{j
\in B
}^
{N_B
}
294 \dfrac{\delta( r_
{ij
} - r )
}{4 \pi r^
2} \\
297 with $
\langle\rho_B(r)
\rangle$ the particle density of type $B$ at a distance $r$
298 around particles $A$, and $
\langle\rho_B\rangle_{local
}$ the particle density of
299 type $B$ averaged over all spheres around particles $A$ with radius
300 $r_
{max
}$ (see
\figref{rdfex
}C).
304 {\includegraphics[width=
7cm
]{plots/rdf
}}}
305 \caption[Definition of slices in
{\tt gmx rdf
}.
]{Definition of slices
306 in
{\tt gmx rdf
}: A. $g_
{AB
}(r)$. B. $g_
{AB
}(r,
\theta)$. The slices are
307 colored gray. C. Normalization $
\langle\rho_B\rangle_{local
}$. D. Normalization
308 $
\langle\rho_B\rangle_{local,\:
\theta }$. Normalization volumes are colored gray.
}
312 Usually the value of $r_
{max
}$ is half of the box length. The
313 averaging is also performed in time. In practice the analysis program
314 {\tt \normindex{gmx rdf
}} divides the system into spherical slices (from $r$ to
315 $r+dr$, see
\figref{rdfex
}A) and makes a histogram in stead of
316 the $
\delta$-function. An example of the RDF of oxygen-oxygen in
317 SPC water~
\cite{Berendsen81
} is given in
\figref{rdf
}.
321 {\includegraphics[width=
8cm
]{plots/rdfO-O
}}}
322 \caption{$g_
{OO
}(r)$ for Oxygen-Oxygen of SPC-water.
}
326 % TODO: This functionality isn't there...
327 With
{\tt gmx rdf
} it is also possible to calculate an angle dependent rdf
328 $g_
{AB
}(r,
\theta)$, where the angle $
\theta$ is defined with respect to a
329 certain laboratory axis $
{\bf e
}$, see
\figref{rdfex
}B.
331 g_
{AB
}(r,
\theta) &=&
{1 \over \langle\rho_B\rangle_{local,\:
\theta }} {1 \over N_A
} \sum_{i
\in A
}^
{N_A
} \sum_{j
\in B
}^
{N_B
} {\delta( r_
{ij
} - r )
\delta(
\theta_{ij
} -
\theta)
\over 2 \pi r^
2 sin(
\theta)
}\\
332 cos(
\theta_{ij
}) &=&
{{\bf r
}_
{ij
} \cdot {\bf e
} \over \|r_
{ij
}\| \;\| e\|
}
334 This $g_
{AB
}(r,
\theta)$ is useful for analyzing anisotropic systems.
335 {\bf Note
} that in this case the normalization $
\langle\rho_B\rangle_{local,\:
\theta}$ is
336 the average density in all angle slices from $
\theta$ to $
\theta + d
\theta$
337 up to $r_
{max
}$, so angle dependent, see
\figref{rdfex
}D.
339 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Correlation functions
341 \section{Correlation functions
}
344 \subsection{Theory of correlation functions
}
345 The theory of correlation functions is well established~
\cite{Allen87
}.
346 We describe here the implementation of the various
347 \normindex{correlation
} function flavors in the
{\gromacs} code.
348 The definition of the autocorrelation function
\index{autocorrelation function
}
350 $C_f(t)$ for a property $f(t)$ is:
352 C_f(t) ~=~
\left\langle f(
\xi) f(
\xi+t)
\right\rangle_{\xi}
355 where the notation on the right hand side indicates averaging over $
\xi$,
{\ie} over
357 It is also possible to compute cross-correlation function from two properties
360 C_
{fg
}(t) ~=~
\left\langle f(
\xi) g(
\xi+t)
\right\rangle_{\xi}
362 however, in
{\gromacs} there is no standard mechanism to do this
363 (
{\bf note:
} you can use the
{\tt \normindex{xmgr
}} program to compute cross correlations).
364 The integral of the correlation function over time is the
365 correlation time $
\tau_f$:
367 \tau_f ~=~
\int_0^
{\infty} C_f(t)
{\rm d
} t
371 In practice, correlation functions are calculated based on data points with
372 discrete time intervals
{$
\Delta$t
}, so that the ACF from an MD simulation is:
374 C_f(j
\Delta t) ~=~
\frac{1}{N-j
}\sum_{i=
0}^
{N-
1-j
} f(i
\Delta t) f((i+j)
\Delta t)
377 where $N$ is the number of available time frames for the calculation.
379 obviously only available at time points with the same interval
{$
\Delta$t
}.
380 Since, for many applications, it is necessary to know the short time behavior
381 of the ACF (
{\eg} the first
10 ps) this often means that we have to save the
382 data with intervals much shorter than the time scale of interest.
383 Another implication of
\eqnref{corrmd
} is that in principle we can not compute
384 all points of the ACF with the same accuracy, since we have $N-
1$ data points
385 for $C_f(
\Delta t)$ but only
1 for $C_f((N-
1)
\Delta t)$. However, if we decide to
386 compute only an ACF of length $M
\Delta t$, where $M
\leq N/
2$ we can compute
387 all points with the same statistical accuracy:
389 C_f(j
\Delta t) ~=~
\frac{1}{M
}\sum_{i=
0}^
{N-
1-M
} f(i
\Delta t)f((i+j)
\Delta t)
391 Here of course $j < M$.
392 $M$ is sometimes referred to as the
\normindex{time lag
} of the correlation function.
393 When we decide to do this, we intentionally do not use all the available points
394 for very short time intervals ($j << M$), but it makes it easier to interpret
396 Another aspect that may not be neglected when computing
397 ACFs from simulation is that usually the time origins $
\xi$ (
\eqnref{corr
})
398 are not statistically independent, which may introduce a bias in the results.
399 This can be tested using a block-averaging procedure, where only time origins
400 with a spacing at least the length of the time lag are included,
{\eg} using
401 $k$ time origins with spacing of $M
\Delta t$ (where $kM
\leq N$):
403 C_f(j
\Delta t) ~=~
\frac{1}{k
}\sum_{i=
0}^
{k-
1} f(iM
\Delta t)f((iM+j)
\Delta t)
406 needs very long simulations to get good accuracy this way, because there are
407 many fewer points that contribute to the ACF.
409 \subsection{Using FFT for computation of the ACF
}
410 The computational cost for calculating an ACF according to
\eqnref{corrmd
}
411 is proportional to $N^
2$, which is considerable. However, this can be improved
412 by using fast Fourier transforms to do the convolution~
\cite{Allen87
}.
414 \subsection{Special forms of the ACF
}
415 There are some important varieties on the ACF,
{\eg} the ACF of a vector
\ve{p
}:
417 C_
{\ve{p
}}(t) ~=~
\int_0^
{\infty} P_n(
\cos\angle\left(
\ve{p
}(
\xi),
\ve{p
}(
\xi+t)
\right)
{\rm d
} \xi
420 where $P_n(x)$ is the $n^
{th
}$ order Legendre polynomial
421 \footnote{$P_0(x) =
1$, $P_1(x) = x$, $P_2(x) = (
3x^
2-
1)/
2$
}.
422 Such correlation times
423 can actually be obtained experimentally using
{\eg} NMR or other relaxation
424 experiments.
{\gromacs} can compute correlations using
425 the
1$^
{st
}$ and
2$^
{nd
}$ order Legendre polynomial (
\eqnref{corrleg
}).
426 This can also be used for rotational autocorrelation
427 (
{\tt \normindex{gmx rotacf
}})
428 and dipole autocorrelation (
{\tt \normindex{gmx dipoles
}}).
430 In order to study torsion angle dynamics, we define a dihedral
431 autocorrelation function as~
\cite{Spoel97a
}:
433 C(t) ~=~
\left\langle \cos(
\theta(
\tau)-
\theta(
\tau+t))
\right\rangle_{\tau}
436 {\bf Note
} that this is not a product of two functions
437 as is generally used for correlation
438 functions, but it may be rewritten as the sum of two products:
440 C(t) ~=~
\left\langle\cos(
\theta(
\tau))
\cos(
\theta(
\tau+t))\,+\,
\sin(
\theta(
\tau))
\sin(
\theta(
\tau+t))
\right\rangle_{\tau}
444 \subsection{Some Applications
}
445 The program
{\tt \normindex{gmx velacc
}} calculates the
{\em velocity autocorrelation
448 C_
{\ve{v
}} (
\tau) ~=~
\langle {\ve{v
}}_i(
\tau)
\cdot {\ve{v
}}_i(
0)
\rangle_{i
\in A
}
450 The self diffusion coefficient can be calculated using the Green-Kubo
451 relation~
\cite{Allen87
}:
453 D_A ~=~
{1\over 3} \int_0^
{\infty} \langle {\bf v
}_i(t)
\cdot {\bf v
}_i(
0)
\rangle_{i
\in A
} \; dt
455 which is just the integral of the velocity autocorrelation function.
456 There is a widely-held belief that the velocity ACF converges faster than the mean
457 square displacement (
\secref{msd
}), which can also be used for the computation of
458 diffusion constants. However, Allen \& Tildesley~
\cite{Allen87
}
459 warn us that the long-time
460 contribution to the velocity ACF can not be ignored, so care must be taken.
462 Another important quantity is the dipole correlation time. The
{\em dipole
463 correlation function
} for particles of type $A$ is calculated as follows by
464 {\tt \normindex{gmx dipoles
}}:
467 \langle {\bf \mu}_i(
\tau)
\cdot {\bf \mu}_i(
0)
\rangle_{i
\in A
}
469 with $
{\bf \mu}_i =
\sum_{j
\in i
} {\bf r
}_j q_j$. The dipole correlation time
470 can be computed using
\eqnref{corrtime
}.
471 For some applications see~
\cite{Spoel98a
}.
473 The
\normindex{viscosity
} of a liquid can be related to the correlation
474 time of the Pressure tensor $
\ve{P
}$~
\cite{PSmith93c,Balasubramanian96
}.
475 {\tt \normindex{gmx energy
}} can compute the viscosity,
476 but this is not very accurate~
\cite{Hess2002a
}, and
477 actually the values do not converge.
479 \section{Curve fitting in
\gromacs}
480 \subsection{Sum of exponential functions
}
481 Sometimes it is useful to fit a curve to an analytical function, for
482 example in the case of autocorrelation functions with noisy
483 tails.
{\gromacs} is not a general purpose curve-fitting tool however
484 and therefore
{\gromacs} only supports a limited number of
486 Table~
\ref{tab:fitfn
} lists the available options with the
487 corresponding command-line options. The underlying routines for
488 fitting use the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm as implemented in the
489 {\tt lmfit
} package~
\cite{lmfit
} (a bare-bones version of which is
490 included in
{\gromacs} in which an option for error-weighted fitting
494 \caption{Overview of fitting functions supported in (most) analysis tools
495 that compute autocorrelation functions. The ``Note'' column describes
496 properties of the output parameters.
}
500 Command & Functional form $f(t)$& Note\\
503 exp & $e^
{-t/
{a_0
}}$ &\\
504 aexp & $a_1e^
{-t/
{a_0
}}$ &\\
505 exp_exp & $a_1e^
{-t/
{a_0
}}+(
1-a_1)e^
{-t/
{a_2
}}$ & $a_2
\ge a_0
\ge 0$\\
506 exp5 & $a_1e^
{-t/
{a_0
}}+a_3e^
{-t/
{a_2
}}+a_4$ &$a_2
\ge a_0
\ge 0$\\
508 $a_1e^
{-t/
{a_0
}}+a_3e^
{-t/
{a_2
}}+a_5e^
{-t/
{a_4
}}+a_6$&$a_4
\ge a_2
\ge
511 $a_1e^
{-t/
{a_0
}}+a_3e^
{-t/
{a_2
}}+a_5e^
{-t/
{a_4
}}+a_7e^
{-t/
{a_6
}}+a_8$&$a_6
\ge
512 a_4
\ge a_2
\ge a_0
\ge 0$\\
517 \subsection{Error estimation
}
518 Under the hood
{\gromacs} implements some more fitting functions,
519 namely a function to estimate the error in time-correlated data due to Hess~
\cite{Hess2002a
}:
522 \alpha\tau_1\left(
1+
\frac{\tau_1}{t
}\left(e^
{-t/
\tau_1}-
1\right)
\right)
523 + (
1-
\alpha)
\tau_2\left(
1+
\frac{\tau_2}{t
}\left(e^
{-t/
\tau_2}-
1\right)
\right)
526 $
\tau_2$ are time constants (with $
\tau_2 \ge \tau_1$) and $
\alpha$
527 usually is close to
1 (in the fitting procedure it is enforced that
528 $
0\leq\alpha\leq 1$). This is used in
{\tt gmx analyze
} for error
531 \lim_{t
\rightarrow\infty}\varepsilon(t) =
\sigma\sqrt{\frac{2(
\alpha\tau_1+(
1-
\alpha)
\tau_2)
}{T
}}
533 where $
\sigma$ is the standard deviation of the data set and $T$ is
534 the total simulation time~
\cite{Hess2002a
}.
536 \subsection{Interphase boundary demarcation
}
537 In order to determine the position and width of an interface,
538 Steen-S
{\ae}thre
{\em et al.
} fitted a density profile to the
541 f(x) ~=~
\frac{a_0+a_1
}{2} -
\frac{a_0-a_1
}{2}{\rm
542 erf
}\left(
\frac{x-a_2
}{a_3^
2}\right)
544 where $a_0$ and $a_1$ are densities of different phases, $x$ is the
545 coordinate normal to the interface, $a_2$ is the position of the
546 interface and $a_3$ is the width of the
547 interface~
\cite{Steen-Saethre2014a
}.
548 This is implemented in
{\tt gmx densorder
}.
550 \subsection{Transverse current autocorrelation function
}
551 In order to establish the transverse current autocorrelation function
552 (useful for computing viscosity~
\cite{Palmer1994a
})
553 the following function is fitted:
555 f(x) ~=~ e^
{-
\nu}\left(
{\rm cosh
}(
\omega\nu)+
\frac{{\rm
556 sinh
}(
\omega\nu)
}{\omega}\right)
558 with $
\nu = x/(
2a_0)$ and $
\omega =
\sqrt{1-a_1
}$.
559 This is implemented in
{\tt gmx tcaf
}.
561 \subsection{Viscosity estimation from pressure autocorrelation
563 The viscosity is a notoriously difficult property to extract from
564 simulations~
\cite{Hess2002a,Wensink2003a
}. It is
{\em in principle
}
565 possible to determine it by integrating the pressure autocorrelation
566 function~
\cite{PSmith93c
}, however this is often hampered by the noisy
567 tail of the ACF. A workaround to this is fitting the ACF to the
568 following function~
\cite{Guo2002b
}:
570 f(t)/f(
0) = (
1-C)
{\rm cos
}(
\omega t) e^
{-(t/
\tau_f)^
{\beta_f}} + C
571 e^
{-(t/
\tau_s)^
{\beta_s}}
573 where $
\omega$ is the frequency of rapid pressure oscillations (mainly
574 due to bonded forces in molecular simulations), $
\tau_f$ and $
\beta_f$
575 are the time constant and exponent of fast relaxation in a
576 stretched-exponential approximation, $
\tau_s$ and $
\beta_s$ are constants
577 for slow relaxation and $C$ is the pre-factor that determines the
578 weight between fast and slow relaxation. After a fit, the integral of
579 the function $f(t)$ is used to compute the viscosity:
581 \eta =
\frac{V
}{k_B T
}\int_0^
{\infty} f(t) dt
583 This equation has been
584 applied to computing the bulk and shear viscosity using different
585 elements from the pressure tensor~
\cite{Fanourgakis2012a
}.
586 This is implemented in
{\tt gmx viscosity
}.
588 \section{Mean Square Displacement
}
591 To determine the self diffusion coefficient
\index{diffusion coefficient
} $D_A$
593 particles of type $A$, one can use the
\normindex{Einstein
594 relation
}~
\cite{Allen87
}:
596 \lim_{t
\rightarrow \infty} \langle
597 \|
{\bf r
}_i(t) -
{\bf r
}_i(
0)\|^
2 \rangle_{i
\in A
} ~=~
6 D_A t
599 This
{\em mean square displacement
} and $D_A$ are calculated by the
600 program
{\tt \normindex{gmx msd
}}. Normally an index file containing
601 atom numbers is used and the MSD is averaged over these atoms. For
602 molecules consisting of more than one atom, $
{\bf r
}_i$ can be taken
603 as the center of mass positions of the molecules. In that case, you
604 should use an index file with molecule numbers. The results will be
605 nearly identical to averaging over atoms, however. The
{\tt gmx msd
}
607 also be used for calculating diffusion in one or two dimensions. This
608 is useful for studying lateral diffusion on interfaces.
610 An example of the mean square displacement of SPC water is given in
615 {\includegraphics[width=
8cm
]{plots/msdwater
}}}
616 \caption{Mean Square Displacement of SPC-water.
}
621 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Bonds, angles and dihedral %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
623 \section{Bonds/distances, angles and dihedrals
}
625 {\tt gmx distance, gmx angle, gmx gangle
}\\
626 To monitor specific
{\em bonds
} in your modules, or more generally
627 distances between points, the program
628 {\tt \normindex{gmx distance
}} can calculate distances as a function of
629 time, as well as the distribution of the distance.
630 With a traditional index file, the groups should consist of pairs of
631 atom numbers, for example:
641 Selections are also supported, with first two positions defining the
642 first distance, second pair of positions defining the second distance
643 and so on. You can calculate the distances between CA and CB atoms in
644 all your residues (assuming that every residue either has both atoms, or
645 neither) using a selection such as:
649 The selections also allow more generic distances to be computed.
650 For example, to compute the distances between centers of mass of two
651 residues, you can use:
653 com of resname AAA plus com of resname BBB
656 The program
{\tt \normindex{gmx angle
}} calculates the distribution of
{\em angles
} and
657 {\em dihedrals
} in time. It also gives the average angle or dihedral.
658 The index file consists of triplets or quadruples of atom numbers:
671 For the dihedral angles you can use either the ``biochemical convention''
672 ($
\phi =
0 \equiv cis$) or ``polymer convention'' ($
\phi =
0 \equiv trans$),
673 see
\figref{dih_def
}.
677 {\includegraphics[width=
3.5cm,angle=
270]{plots/dih-def
}}}
678 \caption[Dihedral conventions.
]{Dihedral conventions: A. ``Biochemical
679 convention''. B. ``Polymer convention''.
}
683 The program
{\tt \normindex{gmx gangle
}} provides a selection-enabled
684 version to compute angles. This tool can also compute angles and
685 dihedrals, but does not support all the options of
{\tt gmx angle
}, such
686 as autocorrelation or other time series analyses.
687 In addition, it supports angles between two vectors, a vector and a
688 plane, two planes (defined by
2 or
3 points, respectively), a
689 vector/plane and the $z$ axis, or a vector/plane and the normal of a
690 sphere (determined by a single position).
691 Also the angle between a vector/plane compared to its position in the
692 first frame is supported.
693 For planes,
{\tt \normindex{gmx gangle
}} uses the normal vector
694 perpendicular to the plane.
695 See
\figref{sgangle
}A, B, C) for the definitions.
699 {\includegraphics{plots/sgangle
}}}
700 \caption[Angle options of
{\tt gmx gangle
}.
]{Angle options of
{\tt gmx gangle
}:
701 A. Angle between two vectors.
702 B. Angle between two planes.
703 C. Angle between a vector and the $z$ axis.
704 D. Angle between a vector and the normal of a sphere.
705 Also other combinations are supported: planes and vectors can be used
710 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Radius of gyration and distances
712 \section{Radius of gyration and distances
}
714 {\tt gmx gyrate, gmx distance, gmx mindist, gmx mdmat, gmx pairdist, gmx xpm2ps
}\\
715 To have a rough measure for the compactness of a structure, you can calculate
716 the
{\em radius of gyration
} with the program
{\tt \normindex{gmx gyrate
}} as follows:
718 R_g ~=~
\left(
{\frac{\sum_i \|
{\bf r
}_i\|^
2 m_i
}{\sum_i m_i
}}\right)^
{\half}
721 where $m_i$ is the mass of atom $i$ and $
{\bf r
}_i$ the position of
722 atom $i$ with respect to the center of mass of the molecule. It is especially
723 useful to characterize polymer solutions and proteins. The program will also
724 provide the radius of gyration around the coordinate axis (or, optionally, principal axes)
725 by only summing the radii components orthogonal to each axis, for instance
727 R_
{g,x
} ~=~
\left(
{\frac{\sum_i \left( r_
{i,y
}^
2 + r_
{i,z
}^
2 \right) m_i
}{\sum_i m_i
}}\right)^
{\half}
731 Sometimes it is interesting to plot the
{\em distance
} between two atoms,
732 or the
{\em minimum
} distance between two groups of atoms
733 (
{\eg}: protein side-chains in a salt bridge).
734 To calculate these distances between certain groups there are several
738 The
{\em distance between the geometrical centers
} of two groups can be
739 calculated with the program
740 {{\tt \normindex{gmx distance
}}, as explained in
\secref{bad
}.
}
742 The
{\em minimum distance
} between two groups of atoms during time
743 can be calculated with the program
{\tt \normindex{gmx mindist
}}. It also calculates the
744 {\em number of contacts
} between these groups
745 within a certain radius $r_
{max
}$.
747 {\tt \normindex{gmx pairdist
}} is a selection-enabled version of
750 To monitor the
{\em minimum distances between amino acid residues
}
751 within a (protein) molecule, you can use
752 the program
{\tt \normindex{gmx mdmat
}}. This minimum distance between two residues
753 A$_i$ and A$_j$ is defined as the smallest distance between any pair of
754 atoms (i $
\in$ A$_i$, j $
\in$ A$_j$).
755 The output is a symmetrical matrix of smallest distances
756 between all residues.
757 To visualize this matrix, you can use a program such as
{\tt xv
}.
758 If you want to view the axes and legend or if you want to print
759 the matrix, you can convert it with
760 {\tt xpm2ps
} into a Postscript picture, see
\figref{mdmat
}.
763 \includegraphics[width=
6.5cm
]{plots/distm
}}
764 \caption{A minimum distance matrix for a peptide~
\protect\cite{Spoel96b
}.
}
768 Plotting these matrices for different time-frames, one can analyze changes
769 in the structure, and
{\eg} forming of salt bridges.
772 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Root mean square deviations
774 \section{Root mean square deviations in structure
}
776 {\tt gmx rms, gmx rmsdist
}\\
777 The
{\em root mean square deviation
} ($RMSD$) of certain atoms in a molecule
778 with respect to a reference structure can be calculated with the program
779 {\tt \normindex{gmx rms
}} by least-square fitting the structure to the reference structure
780 ($t_2 =
0$) and subsequently calculating the $RMSD$ (
\eqnref{rmsd
}).
782 RMSD(t_1,t_2) ~=~
\left[\frac{1}{M
} \sum_{i=
1}^N m_i \|
{\bf r
}_i(t_1)-
{\bf r
}_i(t_2)\|^
2 \right]^
{\frac{1}{2}}
785 where $M =
\sum_{i=
1}^N m_i$ and $
{\bf r
}_i(t)$ is the position of atom $i$ at time $t$.
786 {\bf Note
} that fitting does not have to use the same atoms as the calculation
787 of the $RMSD$;
{\eg} a protein is usually fitted on the backbone atoms
788 (N,C$_
{\alpha}$,C), but the $RMSD$ can be computed of the backbone
789 or of the whole protein.
791 Instead of comparing the structures to the initial structure at time $t=
0$
792 (so for example a crystal structure), one can also calculate
\eqnref{rmsd
}
793 with a structure at time $t_2=t_1-
\tau$.
794 This gives some insight in the mobility as a function of $
\tau$.
795 A matrix can also be made with the $RMSD$ as a function of $t_1$ and $t_2$,
796 which gives a nice graphical interpretation of a trajectory.
797 If there are transitions in a trajectory, they will clearly show up in
800 Alternatively the $RMSD$ can be computed using a fit-free method with the
801 program
{\tt \normindex{gmx rmsdist
}}:
803 RMSD(t) ~=~
\left[\frac{1}{N^
2}\sum_{i=
1}^N
\sum_{j=
1}^N \|
{\bf r
}_
{ij
}(t)-
{\bf r
}_
{ij
}(
0)\|^
2\right]^
{\frac{1}{2}}
806 where the
{\em distance
} {\bf r
}$_
{ij
}$ between atoms at time $t$
807 is compared with the distance between the same atoms at time $
0$.
809 \section{Covariance analysis
\index{covariance analysis
}}
811 Covariance analysis, also called
812 \seeindex{principal component analysis
}{covariance analysis
}
813 or
\seeindex{essential dynamics
}{covariance analysis
}
814 \cite{Amadei93
}{,
} can find correlated motions.
815 It uses the covariance matrix $C$ of the atomic coordinates:
817 C_
{ij
} =
\left \langle
818 M_
{ii
}^
{\frac{1}{2}} (x_i -
\langle x_i
\rangle)
819 M_
{jj
}^
{\frac{1}{2}} (x_j -
\langle x_j
\rangle)
822 where $M$ is a diagonal matrix containing the masses of the atoms
823 (mass-weighted analysis) or the unit matrix (non-mass weighted analysis).
824 $C$ is a symmetric $
3N
\times 3N$ matrix, which can be diagonalized with
825 an orthonormal transformation matrix $R$:
827 R^T C R =
\mbox{diag
}(
\lambda_1,
\lambda_2,
\ldots,
\lambda_{3N
})
828 ~~~~
\mbox{where
}~~
\lambda_1 \geq \lambda_2 \geq \ldots \geq \lambda_{3N
}
830 The columns of $R$ are the eigenvectors, also called principal or
832 $R$ defines a transformation to a new coordinate system. The trajectory
833 can be projected on the principal modes to give the principal components
836 {\bf p
}(t) = R^T M^
{\frac{1}{2}} (
{\bf x
}(t) -
\langle {\bf x
} \rangle)
838 The eigenvalue $
\lambda_i$ is the mean square fluctuation of principal
839 component $i$. The first few principal modes often describe
840 collective, global motions in the system.
841 The trajectory can be filtered along one (or more) principal modes.
842 For one principal mode $i$ this goes as follows:
845 \langle {\bf x
} \rangle + M^
{-
\frac{1}{2}} R_
{*i
} \, p_i(t)
848 When the analysis is performed on a macromolecule, one often wants to
849 remove the overall rotation and translation to look at the internal motion
850 only. This can be achieved by least square fitting to a reference structure.
851 Care has to be taken that the reference structure is representative for the
852 ensemble, since the choice of reference structure influences the covariance
855 One should always check if the principal modes are well defined.
856 If the first principal component resembles a half cosine and
857 the second resembles a full cosine, you might be filtering noise (see below).
858 A good way to check the relevance of the first few principal
859 modes is to calculate the overlap of the sampling between
860 the first and second half of the simulation.
861 {\bf Note
} that this can only be done when the same reference structure is
862 used for the two halves.
864 A good measure for the overlap has been defined in~
\cite{Hess2002b
}.
865 The elements of the covariance matrix are proportional to the square
866 of the displacement, so we need to take the square root of the matrix
867 to examine the extent of sampling. The square root can be
868 calculated from the eigenvalues $
\lambda_i$ and the eigenvectors,
869 which are the columns of the rotation matrix $R$.
870 For a symmetric and diagonally-dominant matrix $A$ of size $
3N
\times 3N$
871 the square root can be calculated as:
874 R \,
\mbox{diag
}(
\lambda_1^
\frac{1}{2},
\lambda_2^
\frac{1}{2},
\ldots,
\lambda_{3N
}^
\frac{1}{2}) \, R^T
876 It can be verified easily that the product of this matrix with itself gives
878 Now we can define a difference $d$ between covariance matrices $A$ and $B$
881 d(A,B) & = &
\sqrt{\mbox{tr
}\left(
\left(A^
\frac{1}{2} - B^
\frac{1}{2}\right)^
2\right)
884 \sqrt{\mbox{tr
}\left(A + B -
2 A^
\frac{1}{2} B^
\frac{1}{2}\right)
}
886 \left(
\sum_{i=
1}^N
\left(
\lambda_i^A +
\lambda_i^B
\right)
887 -
2 \sum_{i=
1}^N
\sum_{j=
1}^N
\sqrt{\lambda_i^A
\lambda_j^B
}
888 \left(R_i^A
\cdot R_j^B
\right)^
2 \right)^
\frac{1}{2}
890 where tr is the trace of a matrix.
891 We can now define the overlap $s$ as:
893 s(A,B) =
1 -
\frac{d(A,B)
}{\sqrt{\mbox{tr
}A +
\mbox{tr
} B
}}
895 The overlap is
1 if and only if matrices $A$ and $B$ are identical.
896 It is
0 when the sampled subspaces are completely orthogonal.
898 A commonly-used measure is the subspace overlap of the first few
899 eigenvectors of covariance matrices.
900 The overlap of the subspace spanned by $m$ orthonormal vectors
901 $
{\bf w
}_1,
\ldots,
{\bf w
}_m$ with a reference subspace spanned by
902 $n$ orthonormal vectors $
{\bf v
}_1,
\ldots,
{\bf v
}_n$
903 can be quantified as follows:
905 \mbox{overlap
}(
{\bf v
},
{\bf w
}) =
906 \frac{1}{n
} \sum_{i=
1}^n
\sum_{j=
1}^m (
{\bf v
}_i
\cdot {\bf w
}_j)^
2
908 The overlap will increase with increasing $m$ and will be
1 when
909 set $
{\bf v
}$ is a subspace of set $
{\bf w
}$.
910 The disadvantage of this method is that it does not take the eigenvalues
911 into account. All eigenvectors are weighted equally, and when
912 degenerate subspaces are present (equal eigenvalues), the calculated overlap
915 Another useful check is the cosine content. It has been proven that the
916 the principal components of random diffusion are cosines with the number of
917 periods equal to half the principal component index~
\cite{Hess2000,Hess2002b
}.
918 The eigenvalues are proportional to the index to the power $-
2$.
919 The cosine content is defined as:
922 \left(
\int_0^T
\cos\left(
\frac{i
\pi t
}{T
}\right) \, p_i(t)
\mbox{d
} t
\right)^
2
923 \left(
\int_0^T p_i^
2(t)
\mbox{d
} t
\right)^
{-
1}
925 When the cosine content of the first few principal components
926 is close to
1, the largest fluctuations are not connected with
927 the potential, but with random diffusion.
929 The covariance matrix is built and diagonalized by
930 {\tt \normindex{gmx covar
}}.
931 The principal components and overlap (and many more things)
932 can be plotted and analyzed with
{\tt \normindex{gmx anaeig
}}.
933 The cosine content can be calculated with
{\tt \normindex{gmx analyze
}}.
935 \section{Dihedral principal component analysis
}
936 {\tt gmx angle, gmx covar, gmx anaeig
}\\
937 Principal component analysis can be performed in dihedral
938 space~
\cite{Mu2005a
} using
{\gromacs}. You start by defining the
939 dihedral angles of interest in an index file, either using
{\tt
940 gmx mk_angndx
} or otherwise. Then you use the
{\tt gmx angle
} program
941 with the
{\tt -or
} flag to produce a new
{\tt .trr
} file containing the cosine and
942 sine of each dihedral angle in two coordinates, respectively. That is,
943 in the
{\tt .trr
} file you will have a series of numbers corresponding to:
944 cos($
\phi_1$), sin($
\phi_1$), cos($
\phi_2$), sin($
\phi_2$), ...,
945 cos($
\phi_n$), sin($
\phi_n$), and the array is padded with zeros, if
946 necessary. Then you can use this
{\tt .trr
} file as input for the
{\tt
947 gmx covar
} program and perform principal component analysis as usual.
948 For this to work you will need to generate a reference file (
{\tt .tpr
},
949 {\tt .gro
},
{\tt .pdb
} etc.) containing the same number of ``atoms''
950 as the new
{\tt .trr
} file, that is for $n$ dihedrals you need
2$n$/
3 atoms
951 (rounded up if not an integer number).
952 You should use the
{\tt -nofit
} option for
{\tt
953 gmx covar
} since the coordinates in the dummy reference file do not
954 correspond in any way to the information in the
{\tt .trr
} file. Analysis of
955 the results is done using
{\tt gmx anaeig
}.
957 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Hydrogen bonds
959 \section{Hydrogen bonds
}
961 The program
{\tt \normindex{gmx hbond
}} analyzes the
{\em hydrogen bonds
} (H-bonds)
962 between all possible donors D and acceptors A. To determine if an
963 H-bond exists, a geometrical criterion is used, see also
967 r &
\leq & r_
{HB
} & = &
0.35~
\mbox{nm
} \\
968 \alpha &
\leq &
\alpha_{HB
} & = &
30^o \\
973 \centerline{\includegraphics[width=
2.5cm,angle=
270]{plots/hbond
}}
974 \caption{Geometrical Hydrogen bond criterion.
}
978 The value of $r_
{HB
} =
0.35$~nm corresponds to the first minimum of the RDF of
979 SPC water (see also
\figref{rdf
}).
981 The program
{\tt gmx hbond
} analyzes all hydrogen bonds existing
982 between two groups of atoms (which must be either identical or
983 non-overlapping) or in specified donor-hydrogen-acceptor triplets, in
988 {\includegraphics[width=
5cm,angle=
270]{plots/hbond-insert
}}}
989 \caption[Insertion of water into an H-bond.
]{Insertion of water into
990 an H-bond. (
1) Normal H-bond between two residues. (
2) H-bonding
991 bridge via a water molecule.
}
997 Donor-Acceptor distance ($r$) distribution of all H-bonds
999 Hydrogen-Donor-Acceptor angle ($
\alpha$) distribution of all H-bonds
1001 The total number of H-bonds in each time frame
1003 \newcommand{\nn}[1]{$n$-$n$+$
#1$
}
1004 The number of H-bonds in time between residues, divided into groups
1005 \nn{i
} where $n$ and $n$+$i$ stand for residue numbers and $i$ goes
1006 from
0 to
6. The group for $i=
6$ also includes all H-bonds for
1007 $i>
6$. These groups include the
\nn{3},
\nn{4} and
\nn{5} H-bonds,
1008 which provide a measure for the formation of $
\alpha$-helices or
1009 $
\beta$-turns or strands.
1011 The lifetime of the H-bonds is calculated from the average over all
1012 autocorrelation functions of the existence functions (either
0 or
1)
1015 C(
\tau) ~=~
\langle s_i(t)~s_i (t +
\tau)
\rangle
1018 with $s_i(t) = \
{0,
1\
}$ for H-bond $i$ at time $t$. The integral of
1019 $C(
\tau)$ gives a rough estimate of the average H-bond lifetime
1022 \tau_{HB
} ~=~
\int_{0}^
{\infty} C(
\tau) d
\tau
1025 Both the integral and the complete autocorrelation function $C(
\tau)$
1026 will be output, so that more sophisticated analysis (
{\eg}\@ using
1027 multi-exponential fits) can be used to get better estimates for
1028 $
\tau_{HB
}$. A more complete analysis is given in ref.~
\cite{Spoel2006b
};
1029 one of the more fancy option is the Luzar and Chandler analysis
1030 of hydrogen bond kinetics~
\cite{Luzar96b,Luzar2000a
}.
1032 An H-bond existence map can be generated of dimensions
{\em
1033 \#~H-bonds
}$
\times$
{\em \#~frames
}. The ordering is identical to the index
1034 file (see below), but reversed, meaning that the last triplet in the index
1035 file corresponds to the first row of the existence map.
1037 Index groups are output containing the analyzed groups, all
1038 donor-hydrogen atom pairs and acceptor atoms in these groups,
1039 donor-hydrogen-acceptor triplets involved in hydrogen bonds between
1040 the analyzed groups and all solvent atoms involved in insertion.
1045 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Protein related items
1047 \section{Protein-related items
}
1048 {\tt gmx do_dssp, gmx rama, gmx wheel
}\\
1049 To analyze structural changes of a protein, you can calculate the radius of
1050 gyration or the minimum residue distances over time
1051 (see
\secref{rg
}), or calculate the RMSD (
\secref{rmsd
}).
1053 You can also look at the changing of
{\em secondary structure elements
}
1054 during your run. For this, you can use the program
{\tt \normindex{gmx do_dssp
}}, which is
1055 an interface for the commercial program
{\tt DSSP
}~
\cite{Kabsch83
}. For
1056 further information, see the
{\tt DSSP
} manual. A typical output plot of
1057 {\tt gmx do_dssp
} is given in
\figref{dssp
}.
1061 \includegraphics[width=
12cm
]{plots/dssp
}}
1062 \caption{Analysis of the secondary structure elements of a peptide in time.
}
1066 One other important analysis of proteins is the so-called
1067 {\em Ramachandran plot
}.
1068 This is the projection of the structure on the two dihedral angles $
\phi$ and
1069 $
\psi$ of the protein backbone, see
\figref{phipsi
}.
1073 \includegraphics[width=
5cm
]{plots/phipsi
}}
1074 \caption{Definition of the dihedral angles $
\phi$ and $
\psi$ of the protein backbone.
}
1078 To evaluate this Ramachandran plot you can use the program
{\tt
1079 \normindex{gmx rama
}}.
1080 A typical output is given in
\figref{rama
}.
1084 {\includegraphics[width=
8cm
]{plots/rama
}}}
1085 \caption{Ramachandran plot of a small protein.
}
1089 When studying $
\alpha$-helices
1090 it is useful to have a
{\em helical wheel
} projection
1091 of your peptide, to see whether a peptide is amphipathic. This can be done
1092 using the
{\tt \normindex{gmx wheel
}} program. Two examples are
1093 plotted in
\figref{wheel
}.
1096 \centerline{\includegraphics[width=
\htw]{plots/hpr-wheel
}}
1097 \caption{Helical wheel projection of the N-terminal helix of HPr.
}
1101 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Membrane Related Items
1103 \section{Interface-related items
}
1104 {\tt gmx order, gmx density, gmx potential, gmx traj
}\\
1105 When simulating molecules with long carbon tails, it can be
1106 interesting to calculate their average orientation. There are several
1107 flavors of order parameters, most of which are related. The program
1108 {\tt \normindex{gmx order
}} can calculate order parameters using the equation:
1111 S_
{z
} =
\frac{3}{2}\langle {\cos^
2{\theta_z}} \rangle -
\frac{1}{2}
1114 where $
\theta_z$ is the angle between the $z$-axis of the simulation
1115 box and the molecular axis under consideration. The latter is defined as the
1116 vector from C$_
{n-
1}$ to C$_
{n+
1}$. The parameters $S_x$
1117 and $S_y$ are defined in the same way. The brackets imply averaging over time
1118 and molecules. Order parameters can vary between
1 (full order along
1119 the interface normal) and $-
1/
2$ (full order perpendicular to the
1120 normal), with a value of zero in the case of isotropic orientation.
1122 The program can do two things for you. It can calculate the order
1123 parameter for each CH$_2$ segment separately, for any of three axes,
1124 or it can divide the box in slices and calculate the average value of
1125 the order parameter per segment in one slice. The first method gives
1126 an idea of the ordering of a molecule from head to tail, the second
1127 method gives an idea of the ordering as function of the box length.
1129 The electrostatic potential ($
\psi$) across the interface can be
1130 computed from a trajectory by evaluating the double integral of the
1131 charge density ($
\rho(z)$):
1133 \psi(z) -
\psi(-
\infty) = -
\int_{-
\infty}^z dz'
\int_{-
\infty}^
{z'
} \rho(z'')dz''/
\epsilon_0
1136 where the position $z=-
\infty$ is far enough in the bulk phase such that
1137 the field is zero. With this method, it is possible to ``split'' the
1138 total potential into separate contributions from lipid and water
1139 molecules. The program
{\tt \normindex{gmx potential
}} divides the box in slices and
1140 sums all charges of the atoms in each slice. It then integrates this
1141 charge density to give the electric field, which is in turn integrated to
1142 give the potential. Charge density, electric field, and potential are written
1143 to
{\tt xvgr
} input files.
1145 The program
{\tt \normindex{gmx traj
}} is a very simple analysis program. All it
1146 does is print the coordinates, velocities, or forces of selected atoms.
1147 It can also calculate the center of mass of one or more
1148 molecules and print the coordinates of the center of mass to three
1149 files. By itself, this is probably not a very useful analysis, but
1150 having the coordinates of selected molecules or atoms can be very
1151 handy for further analysis, not only in interfacial systems.
1153 The program
{\tt \normindex{gmx density
}} calculates the mass density of
1154 groups and gives a plot of the density against a box
1155 axis. This is useful for looking at the distribution of groups or
1156 atoms across the interface.
1158 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Chemical shifts
1160 % \section{Chemical shifts}
1161 % {\tt total, do_shift}\\
1162 % You can compute the NMR chemical shifts of protons with the program
1163 % {\tt \normindex{do_shift}}. This is just an {\gromacs} interface to
1164 % the public domain program {\tt total}~\cite{Williamson93a}. For
1165 % further information, read the article. Although there is limited
1166 % support for this in {\gromacs}, users are encouraged to use the
1167 % software provided by David Case's group at Scripps because it seems
1168 % to be more up-to-date.
1170 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
1172 % LocalWords: Xmgr ndx mk angndx rdf dihedrals grompp hydrogens MainChain Prot
1173 % LocalWords: oxygens SideChain tryptophan vsitetop aminoacids dat ngmx dr SPC
1174 % LocalWords: OO ACF fg xmgr corrmd ACFs kM iM FFT th NMR nd corrleg rotacf dt
1175 % LocalWords: velacc Kubo msd Tildesley corrtime msdwater sgangle cis dih xpm
1176 % LocalWords: mindist mdmat rms rmsdist rmsd jj diag eigenvectors covar anaeig
1177 % LocalWords: macromolecule trr tpr gro pdb nofit hbond rclcl HB multi Luzar
1178 % LocalWords: dssp rama xrama rg Ramachandran phipsi amphipathic HPr xvgr pvd
1179 % LocalWords: Scripps RDF online usinggroups mdrun groupconcept HOH
1180 % LocalWords: residuetypes determinding OpenGL traj ov rcl ij ps nm
1181 % LocalWords: autocorrelation interfacial pairdist