Molecular simulations minimally restrained by experimental data

Abstract: One popular approach to incorporating experimental data into molecular simulations is to restrain the ensemble average of observables to their experimental values. Here I derive equations for the equilibrium distributions generated by restrained ensemble simulations and the corresponding expected values of observables. My results suggest a method to restrain simulations so that they generate distributions that are minimally perturbed from the unbiased distributions while reproducing the experimental values of the observables within their measurement uncertainties.