Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42202002›Full record

ArticleScience advances2026

Understanding the density maximum of water with machine-learned potentials.

Yizhi Song, Renxi Liu, Chunyi Zhang, Yifan Li, Biswajit Santra, Mohan Chen, Michael L Klein, Xifan Wu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Science advances, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Yizhi SongDepartment of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3050-2581
Renxi LiuDepartment of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.
Chunyi ZhangDepartment of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.
Yifan LiDepartment of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3217-0592
Biswajit SantraDepartment of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3609-2106
Mohan ChenHEDPS, CAPT, College of Engineering and School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China.ORCID 0000-0002-8071-5633
Michael L KleinInstitute for Computational Molecular Science, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0027-9262
Xifan WuDepartment of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6561-8942

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

After melting, at ambient pressure, the density of water continues to increase with temperature until it reaches a maximum around 4°C. For nearly a century, this phenomenon has been qualitatively attributed to a mixture of ordered and disordered structures. Here, we use a deep neural network to train a machine-learned (ML) interatomic potential for water using electronic structure data from advanced density functional theory. Notably, molecular dynamics simulations with the ML potential reproduce both the experimental water density anomaly and the thermal expansion coefficient. Detailed structural analysis of the computed hydrogen-bond network reveals that the density anomaly arises from an emergent liquid structure that retains nearly ideal tetrahedral coordination at short range but collapses at intermediate range. Our findings point to a more delicate mechanism causing the density maximum than the conventional picture, emphasizing the collective roles of structural orderings at different length scales.

Identifiers

PMID42202002
PMCPMC13215172

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.