Re: [Ifeffit] Connecting Artemis to FEFF9.6.4

2014-01-12 Thread Matt Newville
 Hi Kevin,

On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 11:01 PM, Kevin Jorissen
kevinjorissen...@gmail.com wrote:
 Hi Bao and Bruce,

 There has indeed been progress since FEFF6 -- the newer versions of the
 program have new input options that the old program will not recognize.
 E.g., as described in the post Bruce linked to, we now generally use the
 EDGE card rather than the HOLE card to specify the absorption edge.  However
 the HOLE card is still recognized by the current FEFF9.  Someone mentioned
 FEFF breaking support for older input files.  To the contrary I expect FEFF6
 input files to work smoothly with the FEFF9 code.  E.g. the Cu example in
 the FEFF6 distribution works with today's FEFF9.  FEFF6 and FEFF9 may
 produce somewhat different output for the same input file because some
 internal defaults and algorithms have changed.

Bruce's complaint was not that changes gave no improvements in the
input file, but that he had no control over or even notification of
such changes.  Artemis generates an input file for Feff.  It needs to
be concerned with things like the spelling and order of keywords.   If
these change between versions, Artemis has to be changed accommodate
these changes.   So, when someone asks the seemingly reasonable
question of Can I use the brand new shiny Feff X.Y.Z with Artemis,
the answer has to be maybe.

Not only does Bruce not get a patch for Artemis to read Feff.inp for a
particular version, he does not even get a list of changes made, let
alone an advance copy for testing.   We often first hear of version
X.Y.Z when someone asks such a question on the list.  Honestly, I have
no idea what went into versions 9.0 through 9.5.   The first version
of Feff9 I ever saw run was in June 2013.  I don't know which versions
Bruce might have seen, but I believe he is similarly unfamiliar with
the Feff9 series.

It's OK if you want us to not be well-informed of these changes, but
you can't blame Bruce when he tells Artemis users that he really no
way to know if Artemis will work with the latest version of Feff.
You *could* tell Bruce what has changed in new versions, and/or give
him a copy to test.  You do neither.  It's not like this is the first
time this has happened or been discussed.

 FEFF9 is not meant to be run through the GUI exclusively.

You mean JFEFF?   In this context, most people do run Feff through
Artemis.  It actually pre-dates JFEFF by a number of years.

 Many users
 (myself included) love working from the command line, and that will always
 be 100% supported.  The GUI is just another way to control the input file
 and run the same compiled fortran executables.   Occasional users and users
 unfamiliar with the command-line terminal (the majority of our users work in
 a Windows environment) seem fairly happy with it.  But you can always do the
 same thing by typing feff on the command line.

OK, that's fine.

 Our interface still consists of a single text file with 10-20 lines of
 keywords with options; and then a list of x,y,z coordinates.  It's kind of
 old-fashioned; if something fancier is needed, I'm willing to help or
 translate it or show interested parties the code.

Bruce and I have been begging for improved i/o for ten or fifteen
years now.   I don't know what you consider fancy, but we desperately
need the routines that callable from other programs, with an API and
not a monolithic  input file.  Any help from anyone would be greatly
appreciated.

 On to the physics:

 I indeed expect that the improved self-energy (we call it MPSE, for
 Many-Pole Self-Energy) would improve EXAFS for many (not all) materials by
 shifting peak positions and correcting broadening.  Other improvements might
 come from new options for Debye-Waller factors, TDLDA, or self-consistent
 SCF potentials (I think some on this mailing may have questioned the value
 of SCF potentials).  The thread referenced by Bruce asks how well one would
 have to know the dielectric function of a material (that in itself may not
 be known very precisely) in order to get an advantage from the MPSE.  In my
 own calculations a primitive built-in model requiring no knowledge from the
 user already seems to provide some of the improvement.  It's not a
 conclusive answer, but it's encouraging.  My personal opinion is that the
 dielectric function does not need to be provided with high accuracy.  Josh
 Kas may be able to make a more qualified statement.

Sure, we all expect MPSE to be an improvement even with a simplistic
improvement to 1/epsilon.  The question is how much of an
improvement?I'm not aware of any further tests beyond copper
metal from 5 years ago. At that time, my recollection is that Josh had
to run code to generate the exchange potentials. But now (as of a few
days) that we have the code for Feff85-for-EXAFS, and can start
getting to the point where we can run these tests.  It will be some
work to get there.

So, we will be able to get to a stable, distributable version of
Feff8, and that will give Bruce 

Re: [Ifeffit] Connecting Artemis to FEFF9.6.4

2014-01-11 Thread Kevin Jorissen
Hi Bao and Bruce,

There has indeed been progress since FEFF6 -- the newer versions of the
program have new input options that the old program will not recognize.
 E.g., as described in the post Bruce linked to, we now generally use the
EDGE card rather than the HOLE card to specify the absorption edge.
 However the HOLE card is still recognized by the current FEFF9.  Someone
mentioned FEFF breaking support for older input files.  To the contrary I
expect FEFF6 input files to work smoothly with the FEFF9 code.  E.g. the Cu
example in the FEFF6 distribution works with today's FEFF9.  FEFF6 and
FEFF9 may produce somewhat different output for the same input file because
some internal defaults and algorithms have changed.

FEFF9 is not meant to be run through the GUI exclusively.  Many users
(myself included) love working from the command line, and that will always
be 100% supported.  The GUI is just another way to control the input file
and run the same compiled fortran executables.   Occasional users and users
unfamiliar with the command-line terminal (the majority of our users work
in a Windows environment) seem fairly happy with it.  But you can always do
the same thing by typing feff on the command line.

Our interface still consists of a single text file with 10-20 lines of
keywords with options; and then a list of x,y,z coordinates.  It's kind of
old-fashioned; if something fancier is needed, I'm willing to help or
translate it or show interested parties the code.

On to the physics:

I indeed expect that the improved self-energy (we call it MPSE, for
Many-Pole Self-Energy) would improve EXAFS for many (not all) materials by
shifting peak positions and correcting broadening.  Other improvements
might come from new options for Debye-Waller factors, TDLDA, or
self-consistent SCF potentials (I think some on this mailing may have
questioned the value of SCF potentials).  The thread referenced by Bruce
asks how well one would have to know the dielectric function of a material
(that in itself may not be known very precisely) in order to get an
advantage from the MPSE.  In my own calculations a primitive built-in model
requiring no knowledge from the user already seems to provide some of the
improvement.  It's not a conclusive answer, but it's encouraging.  My
personal opinion is that the dielectric function does not need to be
provided with high accuracy.  Josh Kas may be able to make a more qualified
statement.

Like Bruce, I would be delighted to see a comprehensive study done.  It's
certainly on our minds and if anyone else has plans in this direction, I'm
sure we would be glad to support the effort.


Finally ...  Reading the referenced thread, I feel the need to clarify a
few things about the FEFF group...  We care a lot about our users and in
particular about this community.  It's a priority to make our codes useful
to this community as well as the wider FEFF community.  Personally I spend
loads of time responding to questions, testing other people's input files,
implementing requests, teaching, ... and wishing I had more time to
implement all the remaining things I would like to provide! -- just like
Matt or Bruce.  I invite everyone to contact me with any FEFF requests that
would benefit users, or to include me in ongoing developments.  And to end
on a cheerful note, I can happily report that FEFF8 for ifeffit EXAFS
analysis is ready to be given out!


Cheers and a late happy new year to everyone,


Kevin Jorissen






On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 8:13 AM, Bruce Ravel bra...@bnl.gov wrote:

 Hi Bao,

 This posting and its conversation thread is relevant to your question:


 http://www.mail-archive.com/ifeffit@millenia.cars.aps.anl.
 gov/msg03810.html

 The one thing that has changed since then is that progress has been
 made on making a version of feff8 with its XANES functionality
 stripped out and which can be redistributed.

 One thing that has not changed is that its integration into Artemis is
 very incomplete.  Following the instructions in my first response to
 that post may work for you with feff9.6.4.  Or maybe not.  I have no
 idea.

 Another thing that has not changed is my skepticism that feffN (where
 N6) offers a substantial improvement for EXAFS data analysis.  As I
 said in that conversation, it may, but no one has demonstrated it tomy
 satistfaction.  Multi-pole self-energies are likely to represent a
 significant improvement in the EXAFS, but again, that systematic study
 has not been done.

 B

 PS: FWIW, getting feff8-for-EXAFS ready for use is something that
 neither Matt nor I have found much time for.  A volunteer would be
 very welcome.




 On 01/10/2014 11:00 AM, Bao Nguyen wrote:

 Dear all,

 I’m new and have a daff question which must have been asked before:

 Can I refer Artemis to FEFF9.6.4, which I have, rather than the
 standard-issued FEFF6 for more streamlined structural refinement?

 Many thanks!

 Bao Nguyen

 Tenure-track Research Fellow
 School of Chemistry

 

Re: [Ifeffit] Connecting Artemis to FEFF9.6.4

2014-01-10 Thread Bruce Ravel

Hi Bao,

This posting and its conversation thread is relevant to your question:


http://www.mail-archive.com/ifeffit@millenia.cars.aps.anl.gov/msg03810.html

The one thing that has changed since then is that progress has been
made on making a version of feff8 with its XANES functionality
stripped out and which can be redistributed.

One thing that has not changed is that its integration into Artemis is
very incomplete.  Following the instructions in my first response to
that post may work for you with feff9.6.4.  Or maybe not.  I have no
idea.

Another thing that has not changed is my skepticism that feffN (where
N6) offers a substantial improvement for EXAFS data analysis.  As I
said in that conversation, it may, but no one has demonstrated it tomy
satistfaction.  Multi-pole self-energies are likely to represent a
significant improvement in the EXAFS, but again, that systematic study
has not been done.

B

PS: FWIW, getting feff8-for-EXAFS ready for use is something that
neither Matt nor I have found much time for.  A volunteer would be
very welcome.



On 01/10/2014 11:00 AM, Bao Nguyen wrote:

Dear all,

I’m new and have a daff question which must have been asked before:

Can I refer Artemis to FEFF9.6.4, which I have, rather than the
standard-issued FEFF6 for more streamlined structural refinement?

Many thanks!

Bao Nguyen

Tenure-track Research Fellow
School of Chemistry

University of Leeds

Woodhouse Lane

Leeds, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1133430109



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--
 Bruce Ravel   bra...@bnl.gov

 National Institute of Standards and Technology
 Synchrotron Science Group at NSLS --- Beamlines U7A, X24A, X23A2
 Building 535A
 Upton NY, 11973

 Homepage:http://xafs.org/BruceRavel
 Software:https://github.com/bruceravel
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