Molecular dynamics simulations of liquid silica crystallization

Significance Silica is one of the most abundant minerals in Earth’s crust and since the dawn of civilization its use has accompanied mankind’s technological evolution. Understanding crystallization is crucial in many industrial processes as well as in geology. Although experiments and simulations are difficult, we are able to perform an atomistic simulation of the β -cristobalite crystallization using an enhanced sampling method that uses as input only the intensity of the highest X-ray diffraction peak of β -cristobalite.