title: Turning intractable counting into sampling: Computing the configurational entropy of three-dimensional jammed packings.
abstract: We present a numerical calculation of the total number of disordered jammed configurations Ω of N repulsive, three-dimensional spheres in a fixed volume V. To make these calculations tractable, we increase the computational efficiency of the approach of Xu et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 245502 (2011)10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.245502] and Asenjo et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 098002 (2014)10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.098002] and we extend the method to allow computation of the configurational entropy as a function of pressure. The approach that we use computes the configurational entropy by sampling the absolute volume of basins of attraction of the stable packings in the potential energy landscape. We find a surprisingly strong correlation between the pressure of a configuration and the volume of its basin of attraction in the potential energy landscape. This relation is well described by a power law. Our methodology to compute the number of minima in the potential energy landscape should be applicable to a wide range of other enumeration problems in statistical physics, string theory, cosmology, and machine learning that aim to find the distribution of the extrema of a scalar cost function that depends on many degrees of freedom.
authors: Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom.
authors: Stefano
authors: S
authors: Martiniani
authors: Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom.
authors: K Julian
authors: KJ
authors: Schrenk
authors: Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom.|Microsoft Research Ltd, 21 Station Road, Cambridge CB1 2FB, United Kingdom.
authors: Jacob D
authors: JD
authors: Stevenson
authors: Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom.
authors: David J
authors: DJ
authors: Wales
authors: Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom.
authors: Daan
authors: D
authors: Frenkel