Computer simulation versus experiment: the structure of orientationally disordered neopentane
A method to confront computer simulations to real nature is reported. "Experimental" results calculated from the simulation are analyzed through the same model as the actual experiments. The same terms are thus used to describe the simulated and the real sample; they can then be compared, with some reliability, to one another and also to the corresponding quantities obtained directly from the microscopic information provided by the simulation. The method is applied to neutron diffraction experiments performed on orientationally disordered neopentane (C(CD3)4) single crystals, a system for which a realistic molecular dynamics simulation has also been performed. Our method turns out to be a severe test both for the simulation and the models used to interpret the experiments.