+Basically molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is a technique to compute a system of particles, referred to as molecules, that evolve in time.
+The MD method was introduced by Alder and Wainwright in 1957 \cite{alder1,alder2} to study the interactions of hard spheres.
+The basis of the approach are Newton's equations of motion to describe classicaly the many-body system.
+MD simulation is the numerical way of solving the $N$-body problem ($N > 3$) which cannot be solved analytically.
+Quantum mechanical effects are taken into account by an analytical interaction potential between the nuclei.
+
+By MD simulation techniques a complete description of the system in the sense of classical mechanics on the microscopic level is obtained.
+This microscopic information has to be translated to macroscopic observables by means of statistical mechanics.
+
+The basic idea is to integrate Newton's equations numerically.
+A system of $N$ particles of masses $m_i$ ($i=1,\ldots,N$) at positions ${\bf r}_i$ and velocities $\dot{{\bf r}}_i$ is given by
+\begin{equation}
+m_i \frac{d^2}{dt^2} {\bf r}_i = {\bf F}_i \, \textrm{.}
+\end{equation}
+The forces ${\bf F}_i$ are obtained from the potential energy $U(\{{\bf r}\})$:
+\begin{equation}
+{\bf F}_i = - \nabla_{{\bf r}_i} U({\{\bf r}\}) \, \textrm{.}
+\end{equation}
+Given the initial conditions ${\bf r}_i(t_0)$ and $\dot{{\bf r}}_i(t_0)$ the equations can be integrated by a certain integration algorithm.
+The solution of these equations provides the complete information of a system
+
+\subsection{Interaction potentials}