ABSTRACT
One of the principal contributions made by computer simulation has been to the study of condensed matter, particularly liquids and phase changes. This has been achieved by integrating the motion of a number of representative particles in the material and is known as “molecular dynamics” (MD), even though most work has been performed with systems that cannot be said to form molecules. The motion of the particles is normally assumed to be classical and governed by Newton’s laws, and the forces are normally treated as acting centrally along lines drawn between pairs of particles. Neither of these restrictions is essential to the idea of molecular dynamics and one expects to see the technique developed to nonclassical motion and noncentral, many-body forces. The discussion in this chapter will, however, be limited to classical central-force simulations.
