Numerical Optimization of a Walk-on-Spheres Solver for the Linear Poisson-Boltzmann Equation

Numerical Optimization of a Walk-on-Spheres Solver for the Linear Poisson-Boltzmann Equation

Year:    2013

Communications in Computational Physics, Vol. 13 (2013), Iss. 1 : pp. 195–206

Abstract

Stochastic walk-on-spheres (WOS) algorithms for solving the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation (LPBE) provide several attractive features not available in traditional deterministic solvers: Gaussian error bars can be computed easily, the algorithm is readily parallelized and requires minimal memory and multiple solvent environments can be accounted for by reweighting trajectories. However, previouslyreported computational times of these Monte Carlo methods were not competitive with existing deterministic numerical methods. The present paper demonstrates a series of numerical optimizations that collectively make the computational time of these Monte Carlo LPBE solvers competitive with deterministic methods. The optimization techniques used are to ensure that each atom’s contribution to the variance of the electrostatic solvation free energy is the same, to optimize the bias-generating parameters in the algorithm and to use an epsilon-approximate rather than exact nearest-neighbor search when determining the size of the next step in the Brownian motion when outside the molecule. 

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Journal Article Details

Publisher Name:    Global Science Press

Language:    English

DOI:    https://doi.org/10.4208/cicp.220711.041011s

Communications in Computational Physics, Vol. 13 (2013), Iss. 1 : pp. 195–206

Published online:    2013-01

AMS Subject Headings:    Global Science Press

Copyright:    COPYRIGHT: © Global Science Press

Pages:    12

Keywords: