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The tradeoff between precision and performance in molecular simulations can nowadays be addressed by machine-learned force fields (MLFF), which combine \textit{ab initio} accuracy with force field numerical efficiency. Different from conventional force fields however, incorporating relevant electronic degrees of freedom into MLFFs becomes important. Here, we implement an equivariant transformer that embeds molecular net charge and spin state without additional neural network parameters. The model trained on a singlet/triplet non-correlated \ce{CH2} dataset can identify different spin states and shows state-of-the-art extrapolation capability. Therein, self-attention sensibly captures non-local effects, which, as we show, can be finely tuned over the network hyper-parameters. We indeed found that Softmax activation functions utilised in the self-attention mechanism of graph networks outperformed ReLU-like functions in prediction accuracy. Increasing the attention temperature from $\tau = \sqrt{d}$ to $\sqrt{2d}$ further improved the extrapolation capability, indicating a weighty role of nonlocality. Additionally, a weight initialisation method was purposed that sensibly accelerated the training process., Comment: Expanded discussion from previous version, some typos corrected, results unchanged

The response to compression of the clathrate type-II structure Ge(cF136) is investigated by means of \textit{ab initio} small-cell metadynamics at different temperatures and pressures. At lower pressure $p$=2.5 GPa the metastable metallic bct-5 phase competes against $\beta$-Sn Ge(tI4), which forms at higher pressures. On lowering temperature, the presence of amorphous intermediates obtained from Ge$_{136}$ is more pronounced and is instrumental to the formation of denser structural motifs, from which metallic bct-5 can form. Therein, anisotropic box fluctuations promote phase formation. The metadynamics runs are analysed in depth using a set of topological descriptors, including coordination sequence and ring statistics. Differences in the structural landscape history and amorphous intermediates are critical for the selective formation of particular metastable polymorphs, towards turning crystal structure predictions into actual materials.

We study the pressure-induced structural transformation of Ge$_{136}$ clathrate by ab initio molecular dynamics and metadynamics. The system under pressure first undergoes amorphization followed by an ultrafast recrystallization to the $\beta$-tin structure on the time scale of 30 ps. The initial pressure-induced amorphization of clathrate is triggered by high pressure while the subsequent fast recrystallization to $\beta$-tin is driven by low temperature. Interestingly, the amorphous intermediate is still diffusive even at room temperature, in spite of very strong undercooling, making the ultrafast recrystallization possible. The system provides an explicit example of structural transformation between two crystalline phases proceeding via non-crystalline intermediate. Upon fast decompression of the amorphous structure with incipient crystalline order the recrystallization is blocked and the system instead proceeds to the tetrahedral LDA amorphous phase., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Supplementary Material

We introduce a novel scheme for the mechanistic investigation of solid-solid phase transitions, which we dub \textit{metashooting}. Combining transition path sampling molecular dynamics and metadynamics, this scheme allows for both a complete mechanistic analysis and a detailed mapping of the free energy surface. This is illustrated by performing \textit{metashooting} calculations on the pressure-induced B4/B3 $\rightarrow$ B1 phase transition in ZnO. The resulting free energy map helps to clarify the role of intermediate configurations along this activated process and the competition between different mechanistic regimes with superior accuracy. We argue that \textit{metashooting} can be efficiently applied to a broader class of activated processes, Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures

Using a combination of th local-density approximtion (LDA) and dynamicla mean-field theory (DMFT) calculations, we explore the correlated electronic structure of a member of the layered Iron oxychalcogenide Na_{2}Fe_{2}OSe_{2}. We find that the parent compund is a multi-orbital Mott insulator. Surprisingly, and somewhat reminiscent of the doped high-T_{c} cuprates, carrier localization is found to persist upon weak hole doping because the chemical potential lies in a gap structure wit almost vanishing density-of-states (DOS). On the other hand, in remarkable contrast, electron doping drives an orbital-selective metallic phase (OSMP) with co-existing pseudogapped (Mott localized) and itinerant carriers. These remarkably contrasting behaviors in a single system thus stem from drastic electronic reconstruction caused by large-scale transfe of dynamical spectral weightinvolving states with distinct orbital character at low energies, putting the Fe oxychalcogenidesneatly into the increasingly visible tendency of Fe-baed systems as ones in orbital-selective Mott phases. We detail the implications of our analysis, and discuss the nature and symmetry of the superconductive states that may arise upon proper doping or pressurizing Na_{2}Fe_{2}OSe_{2}., Comment: 7 pages, 5 eps figures

By means of ab initio metadynamics runs we explored the lower-pressure region of the phase diagram of germanium. A monoclinic germanium phase with four-membered rings, less dense than diamond and compressible into \beta-tin phase (tI4) was found. A metallic bct-5 phase, mechanically stable down to room conditions appeared between diamond and tI4. mC16 is a narrow-gap semiconductor, while bct-5 is metallic and potentially still superconducting in the very low pressure range. This finding may help resolving outstanding experimental issues., Comment: 6 figures

Four sp3 carbon allotropes with six, eight, and 16 atoms per primitive cell have been derived using a combination of metadynamics simulations and topological scan. A chiral orthorhombic phase oC16 (C2221) was found to be harder than monoclinic M-carbon and shows excellent stability in the high-pressure range. A second orthorhombic phase of Cmmm symmetry, by \sim 0.028 eV/atom energetically lower than W-carbon, can be formed from graphite at \sim 9 GPa. In general, the mechanical response under pressure was found to depend on the structure topology, which reflects the way rings are formed from an initial graphene layer stacking., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

Numerous experiments showed that on cold compression graphite transforms into a new superhard and transparent allotrope. Several structures with different topologies have been proposed for this phase. While experimental data are consistent with these models, the only way to solve this puzzle is to find which structure is kinetically easiest to form. Using state-of-the-art molecular-dynamics transition path sampling simulations, we investigate kinetic pathways of the pressure-induced transformation of graphite to various superhard candidate structures. Unlike hitherto applied methods for elucidating nature of superhard graphite, transition path sampling realistically models nucleation events necessary for physically meaningful transformation kinetics. We demonstrate that nucleation mechanism and kinetics lead to $M$-carbon as the final product. $W$-carbon, initially competitor to $M$-carbon, is ruled out by phase growth. Bct-C$_4$ structure is not expected to be produced by cold compression due to less probable nucleation and higher barrier of formation.

We describe length and time rescaling across the paraelectric to ferroelectric phase transition in BaTiO$_3$. Small ferroelectric clusters are unable to grow in the paraelectric phase and exist for a short period of time only. The onset of the phase transition invokes a rescaling of both size and time lenghts as necessary ingredients for ferroelectricity to come into existence. The growing of ferroelectric domains involves correlated chains of Ti-O dipoles, which causes domain wall rigidity and domain shape stability. Ferroelectric nanodomains may host islands of opposite polarization (antiferroelectric defects), which appear as an intrinsic feature of the growing BaTiO$_3$ ferroelectric material, Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures