Usage:

ndmansfield -box xsize ysize zsize -tsave tsave [options] > traj.raw

Example:

ndmansfield -box 10 10 10 -tsave 2000 -tstop 20000 | tail -n 1001 > traj.raw

"ndmansfield" is a simple program which generates random self-avoiding space-filling curves (also called "lattice Hamiltonian paths") in an arbitrary number of dimensions using the algorithm developed by Marc L. Mansfield: (Mansfield, M.L., J. Chem Phys, 2006, 125(15):154103) The program runs a Monte-Carlo simulation which generates a series of curves. As the simulation progresses, the curves become increasingly random and independent of the starting shape. The coordinates for the shapes of these curves are saved as 3-column (or n-column) numeric text files (eg "traj.raw") containing xsize*ysize*zsize lines per curve, and blank lines as delimiters between new curves. Cyclic curves can also be generated. (See details below.)

The curves are assumed to be completely flexible, however stiffness and twist preferences can be introduced using the "-bend-energy" and "-twist-energy" arguments:

For more details, including a complete list of options, see the "docs_ndmansfield.txt" file in the "doc" subdirectory. (The move-set used during the Monte-Carlo procedure is explained in the file "doc/images/Mansfield_monte-carlo_move_JCP2006_Fig1.png", as well as in the Mansfield paper.)

NOTE: The initial shape of the curve is included in the file generated by this program (which is not random). To skip this useless shape and save only the random shape at the end of the simulation, use "tail", to save the last N+1 lines of the file (as shown in the example above; where N=xsize*ysize*zsize and the +1 is for the trailing blank line delimiter.)

This program was originally used to generate initial coordinates for polymer melt simulations using MOLTEMPLATE and LAMMPS. (The coordinates ndmansfield generates can be converted into complicated polymers which trace the same path using the "genpoly_lt.py" script distributed with moltemplate. Curve interpolation beforehand is recommended, and this can be done using the "interpolate_curve.py" script, available at www.moltemplate.org.) Below, a simple coarse-grained DNA polymer is wrapped along a curve generated by ndmansfield:

The total running time necessary to generate a random curve is estimated to be O(n^2). (The number of iterations necessary to generate a random curve was estimated to grow as O(n) with the length of the curve. The running time per iteration is O(n).) The curves shown above have a length over 300000 and were generated in a few minutes.

cd src
source setup_gcc_linux.sh
make

(If you are not using the bash shell, enter "bash" into the terminal beforehand)

Install the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and run

sudo apt-get install build-essential

and then follow the instructions above for linux. (Older windows users can install Cygwin or MinGW.)

cd src
source setup_gcc_OSX.sh
make

ndmansfield can generate random paths in dimensions other than 3 by changing the number of integers following the "-box" argument.

Example in 2-D:

ndmansfield -box 20 20 -tsave 1000 -tstop 15000 | tail -n 401 > traj.raw

Example in 4-D:

ndmansfield -box 10 10 10 10 -tsave 20000 -tstop 200000 | tail -n 10001 > traj.raw

(If you use the -startcrd argument, you will have to change the number of columns in your file accordingly.)

ndmansfield is available under the terms of the open-source 3-clause BSD license. (See LICENSE.md.)