Enhanced Sampling Methods for Molecular Dynamics Simulations [Article v1.0]

Enhanced sampling algorithms have emerged as powerful methods to extend the utility of molecular dynamics simulations and allow the sampling of larger portions of the configuration space of complex systems in a given amount of simulation time. This review aims to present the unifying principles of and differences between many of the computational methods currently used for enhanced sampling in molecular simulations of biomolecules, soft matter and molecular crystals. In fact, despite the apparent abundance and divergence of such methods, the principles at their core can be boiled down to a relatively limited number of statistical and physical concepts. To enable comparisons, the various methods are introduced…