\chapter{Basic principles of utilized simulation techniques}
\label{chapter:basics}
-In the following the simulation methods used within the scope of this study are introduced.
+In the following, the simulation methods used within the scope of this study are introduced.
Enabling the investigation of the evolution of structure on the atomic scale, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are chosen for modeling the behavior and precipitation of C introduced into an initially crystalline Si environment.
-To be able to model systems with a large amount of atoms computational efficient classical potentials to describe the interaction of the atoms are most often used in MD studies.
+To be able to model systems with a large amount of atoms, computational efficient classical potentials to describe the interaction of the atoms are most often used in MD studies.
For reasons of flexibility in executing this non-standard task and in order to be able to use a novel interaction potential~\cite{albe_sic_pot}, an appropriate MD code called \textsc{posic}\footnote{\textsc{posic} is an abbreviation for {\bf p}recipitation {\bf o}f {\bf SiC}} including a library collecting respective MD subroutines was developed from scratch\footnote{Source code: http://www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/\~{}zirkelfr/posic}.
-The basic ideas of MD in general and the adopted techniques as implemented in \textsc{posic} in particular are outlined in section~\ref{section:md}, while the functional form and derivative of the employed classical potential is presented in appendix~\ref{app:d_tersoff}.
+The basic ideas of MD in general and the adopted techniques as implemented in \textsc{posic} in particular are outlined in section~\ref{section:md} while the functional form and derivative of the employed classical potential is presented in appendix~\ref{app:d_tersoff}.
An overview of the most important tools within the MD package is given in appendix~\ref{app:code}.
Although classical potentials are often most successful and at the same time computationally efficient in calculating some physical properties of a particular system, not all of its properties might be described correctly due to the lack of quantum-mechanical effects.
Thus, in order to obtain more accurate results quantum-mechanical calculations from first principles based on density functional theory (DFT) were performed.
Approximations that consider a truncated Hilbert space of single-particle orbitals yield promising results, however, with increasing complexity and demand for high accuracy the amount of Slater determinants to be evaluated massively increases.
In contrast, instead of using the description by the many-body wave function, the key point in density functional theory (DFT) is to recast the problem to a description utilizing the charge density $n(\vec{r})$, which constitutes a quantity in real space depending only on the three spatial coordinates.
-In the following sections the basic idea of DFT will be outlined.
+In the following sections, the basic idea of DFT will be outlined.
As will be shown, DFT can formally be regarded as an exactification of the Thomas Fermi theory~\cite{thomas27,fermi27} and the self-consistent Hartree equations~\cite{hartree28}.
A nice review is given in the Nobel lecture of Kohn~\cite{kohn99}, one of the inventors of DFT.
\subsection{Structural relaxation and Hellmann-Feynman theorem}
-Up to this point, the system is in the ground state with respect to the electronic subsystem, while the positions of the ions as well as size and shape of the supercell are fixed.
+Up to this point, the system is in the ground state with respect to the electronic subsystem while the positions of the ions as well as size and shape of the supercell are fixed.
To investigate equilibrium structures, however, the ionic subsystem must also be allowed to relax into a minimum energy configuration.
Local minimum configurations can be easily obtained in a MD-like way by moving the nuclei over small distances along the directions of the forces, as discussed in the MD chapter above.
Clearly, the conjugate gradient method constitutes a more sophisticated scheme, which will locate the equilibrium positions of the ions more rapidly.
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