Logarithmic interaction under periodic boundary conditions: Closed form formulas for energy and forces

TL;DR

This paper presents a simplified method to derive closed-form formulas for energy and forces of logarithmic interactions under periodic boundary conditions, enhancing computational efficiency in simulations.

Contribution

It generalizes previous results with a new, simpler approach, providing formulas that are highly practical for computer simulations of charged systems.

Findings

Derived closed-form formulas for energy and forces

Simplified the mathematical approach compared to prior work

Enhanced computational efficiency for simulations

Abstract

A method is given to obtain closed form formulas for the energy and forces for an aggregate of charges interacting via a logarithmic interaction under periodic boundary conditions. The work done here is a generalization of Glasser's results [M. L. Glasser, J. Math. Phys. 15, 188 (1974)] and is obtained with a different and simpler method than that by Stremler [M. A. Stremler, J. Math. Phys. 45, 3584 (2004)]. The simplicity of the formulas derived here makes them extremely convenient in a computer simulation.