The statistics of electric field fluctuations in liquid water

TL;DR

This paper investigates the statistical behavior of electric field fluctuations in liquid water through molecular dynamics simulations, emphasizing the impact of nearby molecules on dissociation processes.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the spatial origins of electric field fluctuations in water, highlighting the dominance of local interactions over long-range effects.

Findings

Electric field fluctuations are mainly influenced by water molecules within 7 Å.

Strong but rare electric fields are key to water dissociation.

Long-range contributions to electric fields are minimal.

Abstract

Electric field fluctuations play a major role in dissociation reactions in liquid water and determine its vibrational spectroscopic response. Here, we study the statistics of electric fields in liquid water using molecular dynamics computer simulations with a particular focus on the strong but rare fields that drive dissociation. Our simulations indicate that the important contributions to the electric field acting on OH bonds stem from water molecules less than 7 {\AA} away. Long-ranged contributions play a minor role.