SUMMER SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENT

Quantum Monte Carlo and the CASINO Program
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Sunday 30th July - Sunday 6th August
The Towler Institute, via del Collegio, Vallico Sotto, Tuscany, Italy

http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~mdt26/tti/tti.html

August 2006 will see the first Summer School "Quantum Monte Carlo and the
CASINO program" hosted by the Cambridge University Theory of Condensed
Matter Group in their monastery in the Tuscan Apuan Alps. This course is
designed for young scientists with no previous experience in quantum Monte
Carlo methodology, although anyone interested is welcome to take part.

Many-body quantum theory provides the key ideas for understanding the
behaviour of materials at the level of the electrons which bind the atoms
together. Describing the complex behaviour of materials at the atomic 
level requires a sophisticated description of the correlated motion of the
electrons, which can be achieved using ab initio computational methods.
The quantum Monte Carlo method has many attractive features for probing the
electronic properties of real systems. It is an explicitly many-body method
which takes electron correlation into account from the outset. It is capable
of giving highly accurate results while at the same time exhibiting a very
favourable scaling of computational cost with system size.  Over the last 15
years, the Cambridge group have been researching QMC methods and we have
created a powerful, general computer program - CASINO - to carry them out.
The school will focus both on basic theory and on more advanced practical
techniques, and will include a thorough introduction to the CASINO program.

Instructors will include the authors of the CASINO program (Prof. Richard
Needs, Dr. Mike Towler, Dr. Neil Drummond and Dr. Pablo Lopez Rios), along
with a number of other speakers to to be confirmed.

The monastery is a delightful 15th century building with an attached church
which is used as a lecture theatre. It is fully equipped with state of the
art presentation and computer technology. All accommodation is on-site and
time will be set aside for mountain walking, caving, swimming in thermal
baths, eating in fabulous local restaurants, and similar activities.

The cost of the school for one week including accommodation will be around
400 GBP. Participants would need to arrange a flight to Pisa airport from
where onward transportation will be arranged.

Interested parties should contact Mike Towler (mdt26 at cam.ac.uk) for
registration and further details.



QUOTES FROM LAST YEAR'S EVENTS
==============================
"It was easily the most enjoyable conference I have ever attended, and in
the most beautiful location"

"Each of the days in Tuscany was amazingly wonderful, can I ever imagine
Italian lovely place without any crowd of Japanese tourists?" [from a
Japanese person]

"Thank you many times for the terrific time we (and in particular me) had
at the TTI. I think that was my summer highlight for this year, and I
suppose that it was the perfect atmosphere for our QMC family to grow
closer together!!"

"Very educational, very relaxing, just great.. Thanks for this memorable
week in Tuscany"

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