This Winter School continues a series of schools and conferences in
Computational Science organized by the John von Neumann Institute for
Computing (NIC). The topics of the School, Quantum Monte Carlo and Quantum
Molecular Dynamics, play an outstanding role in many NIC research projects
which use the supercomputing facilities provided by the Central
Institute for Applied Mathematics (ZAM) of the Research Centre Jülich. The
programme of the Winter School covers modern quantum simulation techniques
and their implementation on high-performance computers, in particular on
parallel systems. The focus clearly is on numerical methods which are
tailored to treat large quantum systems with many
coupled degrees of freedom ranging from superfluid Helium to chemical
reactions. Among others, the following topics are treated by twenty-five
lectures:
- Diffusion and Green's function Monte Carlo
- Path integral Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics
- Car-Parrinello / ab initio Molecular Dynamics
- Real-time quantum dynamics for large systems
- Lattice and continuum algorithms
- Exchange statistics for bosons and fermions / sign problem
- Parallel numerical techniques and tools
- Numerical integration and random numbers
This strongly interdisciplinary School aims at bridging three ``gaps'' in the
vast field of large-scale quantum simulations. The first gap is between
chemistry and physics, the second one between typical graduate courses in
these fields and state-of-the-art research, and finally the
one between the Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics communities.
The participants will benefit from this School by learning about recent methodological
advances within and outside their field of specialization. In addition,
they get insight into recent software developments and
implementation issues involved, in particular in the context of
high-performance computing.
The lecturers of this Winter School come from chemistry,
physics, mathematics and computer science and this is true for the audience
as well. Participants from thirty mainly European countries attend the NIC Winter
School, and eighty contributions have been submitted for the poster
sessions. This overwhelming international resonance clearly reflects
the attractiveness of the programme and demonstrates the willingness of the
participants to play an active role in this high-level scientific School.
The scientific programme was worked out by Johannes Grotendorst (Research Centre Jülich), Dominik Marx (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), and Alejandro Muramatsu (Universität Stuttgart). The programme structure consists of overview lectures on various important fields, focus lectures on Quantum Monte Carlo and Quantum Molecular Dynamics methods,
and special lectures on numerical and computational techniques.
Many organizations and individuals have contributed significantly to
the success of this Winter School. Without the financial support of
the European Commission within the framework of the specific research
and training programme ``Improving Human Research Potential'' this
one-week School on quantum simulation methods would not have been
possible. We are grateful for the generous financial support by the
Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and by the Research
Centre Jülich as well as for the help provided by its Conference Service
and its Central Institute for Applied Mathematics.
We are greatly indebted to the local organization committee at Forschungszentrum
Jülich who did the bigger part of the preparing work, namely Rüdiger Esser
(Finance), Bernd Krahl-Urban (Accommodaton and Registration) and Monika Marx
(Web Management, Proceedings), and last but not least the conference secretaries
Yasmin Abdel-Fattah,
Elke Bielitza and Anke Reinartz. Special thanks go to Monika Marx for her tireless
commitment concerning the editing and realization of this book. Furthermore, we
appreciate the work of Stephan Brück who supported the difficult typesetting
with great care. Finally, we would like to thank both the Ruhr-Universität Bochum
and the Universität Stuttgart for their support of this activity in the area
of high-end scientific education.
Jülich, Bochum, and Stuttgart
February 2002
Johannes Grotendorst
Dominik Marx
Alejandro Muramatsu
