This process is repeated for each of the 12 reaction coordinates (spanning a horizontal distance of 10𝜎) at each of the 6 separation distances 𝑑 4! varying from 6.12𝜎 to 10.12𝜎. The time periods for the mobile and stationary phase and for force averaging were similar to those used for twobody PMF calculations. During each stationary phase, the component of the ensemble-average force experienced by NP3 in the vertical direction was obtained, as denoted by ⟨𝐹(𝜉)⟩, and the partial PMF was computed through integration using Eq. 9, where 𝜉 ' was again chosen to be sufficiently large to prevent any interactions of NP3 with NP1 or NP2.