A general method was developed for accelerating molecular dynamics simulations of such events. A bias potential was used to increase the energy in regions other than the transition states between potential basins. Transitions occurred at an accelerated rate, and the elapsed time became a statistical property of the system. The bias potential could be constructed without knowing the location of the transition states, and required the use of only the first derivatives. The method was applied to the diffusion of a 10-atom Ag cluster on a (111) Ag surface.

A.F.Voter: Physical Review Letters, 1997, 78[20], 3908-11