Types of algorithm

Simple Energy Minimization
1st Derivative Methods
2nd Derivative Methods

Energy Minimizations

• Simplest
  
• Consistently moves downhill
  
• Rapid at first, can oscillate near minimum
  
• No test for convergence
  

• Simplex method
  
  
• Sequential Univariate
  
  1. Change one coordinate at a time
     
  2. Fit parabola to initial point plus 2 displacements
     
  3. Adjust individual coordinate to minimum of parabola
     
  • Problem with long narrow valley
    
  1 + 3N x m evaluations
  

1st Derivative/Gradient Methods

• Order of magnitude faster
  
• Convergence to stationary points (minima, saddle, maxima)
  

• Steepest Descent
  
  • Consistently moves downhill
    
  • Can oscillate near minimum
    
  • In effect approximates Hessian w/ unit matrix
    
    
• Conjugate Gradient/Fletcher-Reeves
  
  • Faster than Steepest Descent (& BDNR for PP)
    
  • Uses gradients as if updating Hessian
    
  • Fast convergence when far from stationary point
    
  • Slow to converge for floppy
    
  • May oscillate near minimum
    
    
• NLLSQ (NonLinear Least Squares)
  
  • Nearest stationary point
    
  • Not on shoulder
    
    
• Modified Fletcher-Powell
  
  1. Two displacements along each coordinate
     
  2. Fit quadratic surface w/ interactions (in effect calculating g & elements of H numerically)
     
  3. Two displacements along downhill direction
     
  4. Fit parabola to downhill direction
     
  5. Displace atoms
     
  2N + 4 + m x (N + 3) evaluations
  

Second Derivative/Hessian Methods

• Assume quadratic gradient surface: f(E, g, H)
  

• Calculate Hessian matrix directly at each step
  

• Augmented Hessian for transition state
  

1. Estimate Hessian (Inverse Hessian/Green’s Function)
   
2. Calculate E, g
   
3. Update Hessian
   
4. Move to stationary point of model surface
   
N+1 steps, but each one longer

• Block Diagonal Newton-Raphson
  
  • Guesses Hessian
    
  • Unit matrix for cartesian, better for internal coordinate
    
  • Better convergence near minimum
    
    
• DFP (Davidson-Fletcher-Powell)
  
  • Better for transition states
    
    
• Murtagh-Sargent
  
  
• BFGS (Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno)
  
  • Faster than N-R
    
  • Better for optimizations
    
    
• EF (Eigenvector Following)
  
  • Faster than NLLSQ, Sigma, BFGS
    
  • May fail with dummy atoms
    

• Analytical Gradients
  
  • Analytical rather than finite differences
    
  • More accurate
    

• Hessian not recomputed after 1st step
  
• Rapid for nearest stationary point
  
• Fails if initial gradient large
  

• Sigma
  
  
• Gradient Norm Squared/Powell
  
  • Refine N-R geometry
    
  • Stationary point including shoulder
    

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