From owner-chemistry@ccl.net Wed May 12 09:52:00 2010 From: "Mike Towler mdt26#%#cam.ac.uk" To: CCL Subject: CCL: Quantum Monte Carlo summer school, Tuscany - final call Message-Id: <-41844-100512080008-13179-PfZ1xEZNe/RXbdly124K3w.@.server.ccl.net> X-Original-From: "Mike Towler" Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 08:00:06 -0400 Sent to CCL by: "Mike Towler" [mdt26]~[cam.ac.uk] Dear all, There are still some places available at the forthcoming Cambridge University quantum Monte Carlo summer school at the Apuan Alps Centre for Physics in Vallico Sotto, Tuscany next August (details below). If you or anyone you know would like to attend, please get in touch with me as soon as you can. Best wishes, Mike Towler +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Dr. Mike Towler (mdt26 at cam.ac.uk) Theory of Condensed Matter (Rm 529)| | Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK | |Tel. +44-(0)1223-337378 OR -334256 (College) Fax. +44-(0)1223-337356| +----------------------: www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~mdt26 :------------------+ SUMMER SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENT "Quantum Monte Carlo and the CASINO program V" =============================================== Sun 1st August - Sun 8th August 2010 Apuan Alps Centre for Physics :-: TTI, Vallico Sotto, Tuscany, Italy http://www.vallico.net/tti/tti.html A4 POSTER FOR THE SCHOOL AVAILABLE HERE : http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~mdt26/poster.png The fifth international summer school in the series "Quantum Monte Carlo and the CASINO program" will take place during August 2010 at the TTI monastery in the Tuscan Apuan Alps in Italy, organized and hosted by members of Cambridge University physics department's Theory of Condensed Matter Group. The aim of the school is to give students a thorough introduction to quantum Monte Carlo as a method for performing high-quality calculations of the electronic structure of atoms, molecules, and materials. The course is designed for young quantum chemists or theoretical physicists who have no previous experience with this technique, though anyone interested is welcome to take part. The monastery is a unique venue where the community spirit and magnificent location have inspired memorable workshops in the past. It is a delightful 16th century building incorporating an ancient church, and is situated in the isolated but spectacular setting of the Tuscan mountain village of Vallico Sotto. The church is fully equipped with relevant presentation and computer technology, and all accommodation is on-site. As with all events at the Institute, formal lectures are restricted to the mornings, and participants are given the freedom and space to think and to contemplate and discuss the issues at hand. In addition to hands-on exercises, a programme of healthy recreational activities will be organized in the afternoons, and it is hoped that by following this strict regime, together with breathing clean mountain air and by preparing and sampling fine Tuscan cuisine, the participant will be able to return home mentally and physically refreshed as well as better informed. Describing the complex behaviour of materials at the atomic level requires a sophisticated description of the correlated motion of the electrons. Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) is an increasingly popular and explicitly many-body method with the unusual capability of yielding highly accurate results whilst also exhibiting a very favourable scaling of computational cost with system size. Over the last eighteen years, the Cambridge group have been researching QMC methods and we have created a powerful, general computer program - CASINO - to carry out the calculations. The school will focus both on the basic theory of QMC and on more advanced practical techniques, and will include a thorough introduction to the CASINO program. A background in density functional theory or similar - though not essential - is normally thought to be useful. Instructors will include the main authors of the CASINO program (Dr. Mike Towler, Dr. Neil Drummond and Dr. Pablo Lopez Rios) assisted by Robert Lee. Participants would normally need to book a flight to Pisa airport from where onward transportation will be arranged (though other destinations are possible). Details of previous schools - including photographs - are available under the PUBLIC EVENTS link on the TTI web site. Interested students should email Mike Towler (mdt26 at cam.ac.uk) for registration and further details.