Interfacing q-AQUA with a Polarizable Force Field: The Best of Both Worlds

Polarizable force fields are pervasive in the fields of computational chemistry and biochemistry; however, their empirical or semi-empirical nature gives them both weaknesses and strengths. Here, we have developed a hybrid water potential, named q-AQUA-pol, by combining our recent ab initio q-AQUA potential with the TTM3-F water potential. The new potential demonstrates unprecedented accuracy ranging from gas-phase clusters, e.g., the eight low-lying isomers of the water hexamer, to the condensed phase, e.g., radial distribution functions, the self-diffusion coefficient, triplet OOO distribution, and the temperature dependence of the density. This represents a significant advancement in the field of polarizable machine learning potential and computational modeling.