Importance of nuclear quantum effects on the structure of supercooled water around its liquid--liquid critical point (opens in new tab)

Supercooled water is expected to exhibit a liquid--liquid phase transition between low- and high-density liquid states, possibly terminating in a liquid--liquid critical point in the experimentally difficult no man's land. Because the hydrogen atoms are light, nuclear quantum effects (NQE) may alter the structural signatures used to identify this transition. Here, we compare classical molecular dynamics and path-integral molecular dynamics sim...