  We have developed a multi-objective optimization (MOO) procedure to construct
modified-embedded-atom-method (MEAM) potentials with minimal manual fitting.
This procedure has been applied successfully to develop a new MEAM potential
for magnesium. The MOO procedure is designed to optimally reproduce multiple
target values that consist of important materials properties obtained from
experiments and first-principles calculations based on density-functional
theory (DFT). The optimized target quantities include elastic constants,
cohesive energies, surface energies, vacancy formation energies, and the forces
on atoms in a variety of structures. The accuracy of the new potential is
assessed by computing several material properties of Mg and comparing them with
those obtained from other potentials previously published. We found that the
present MEAM potential yields a significantly better overall agreement with DFT
calculations and experiments.
