Condensed Matter Seminar Series
Quantum Monte Carlo Methods:
Applications and Insights into Many-Body Effects
Lubos Mitas
NC State University
Thursday April 22, 11:00am,
Room 298, Physics Building
I
will briefly introduce quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods for electronic
structure calculations of materials, nanosystems, and other quantum
systems such as ultracold condensates. The method has been applied to a
variety of systems such as molecules, clusters, and solids with up to a
few hundreds of valence electrons; it typically provides ~ 95% of the
correlation effects. QMC estimations of quantities such as
cohesive energies, band gaps, energy differences between different
structures, etc, typically agree with experiments within a few percent.
Recent developments focused on reaching beyond the only fundamental
approximation involved (the fixed-node approximation) by understanding
the properties of fermion nodes and by employing pairing pfaffian wave
functions will be discussed as well.
Host: Harold Baranger