CCL: Quantum Monte Carlo conference - Tuscany, Italy



 Sent to CCL by: "Mike  Towler" [mdt26]*[cam.ac.uk]
           Quantum Monte Carlo in the Apuan Alps IX
           ----------------------------------------
             Apuan Alps Centre for Physics | TTI
                Vallico Sotto, Tuscany, Italy
             Sat 26th July - Sat 2nd August 2014
                  Organizer : Mike Towler
                          VENUE
               http://vallico.net/tti/qmcitaa_14/
                       QMC WEBSITE
         http://vallico.net/casinoqmc/conferencesworkshops/
                          POSTER
         http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~mdt26/posterc14.png
 Continuing the series of alternative and very informal meetings at this
 venue, the Cambridge University Theory of Condensed Matter group is
 organizing a ninth International Workshop to discuss the development and
 application of the continuum quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method and related
 topics in quantum chemistry and condensed matter physics. The conference
 will take place in our 15th Century monastery in the mediaeval high
 mountain village of Vallico Sotto (located in the Apuan Alps of Tuscany
 near the beautiful Italian city of Lucca).
 For many types of problem the accuracy of QMC is much better than that of
 the more widely-used density functional theory (DFT) and is comparable with
 or even better than e.g. CCSD(T). Its scaling with number of atoms
 (quadratic or cubic, under the right circumstances) is much more favourable
 than that of high-level quantum chemistry - to the extent that it can treat
 systems of up several thousand electrons. Unlike most other methods, it is
 also fully capable of exploiting the full power of the largest computers in
 the world (e.g. the Cambridge CASINO code has been shown to have almost
 perfect parallel scaling in statistical accumulation on hundreds of
 thousands of CPU cores). QMC is now used widely in real-world problems of
 significant complexity; some recent advances and applications to complex
 energy-relevant materials are reviewed by Lucas Wagner in IJQC 114, 94
 (2014).
 During the meeting all topics related to applications of QMC and/or theory
 and algorithm development will be welcome, though it is expected that
 broader topics in the general area will also be discussed.  A particular
 topic of interest is the relationship between QMC and density functional
 theory. In particular, we hope to look towards obtaining a better
 understanding of the relative benefits of QMC/DFT in systems and
 situations where DFT often fails, such as in weakly-interacting systems,
 strongly-correlated materials, metal-insulator transitions, magnetic
 properties, and biological systems. Furthermore, it is intended to look
 into the better integration of DFT and QMC codes. In industrial
 applications, where users typically require ease-of-use and a graphical
 user interface, how can we move towards a situation where the user may do
 e.g. pre-screening of candidate structures with the faster DFT, then press
 a `Make the Answer Better button' which feeds the relevant wave function
 files into a QMC programme and spits out reliably accurate energetics for
 the selected problems. It is also of interest to understand how to `move
 the atoms' in QMC i.e. how to exploit the power of QMC in cheaper DFT and
 classical-force-field molecular dynamics calculations (in the context of
 `embedding methods' or otherwise). Additionally we can look at how to use
 QMC to develop better exchange-correlation functionals for use in DFT. We
 therefore warmly encourage the participation of people who may never have
 a run a QMC simulation in their lives but are nevertheless interested in
 the topic.  The programme is not fixed, and suggestions for alternative
 discussion topics and other proposals are welcome.
 The normal format for events at the Apuan Alps Centre for Physics involves
 formal presentations being restricted to the mornings, with the afternoons
 left free for relaxed discussion and participation in activities. For the
 young and vigorous, we organize mountain walks, caving and other healthy
 outdoor exercise, whilst those not so inclined might enjoy artistic tours,
 city visits, and gentle country strolls, with all participants reuniting
 in the evening for relaxed Tuscan dinners in local restaurants. The
 monastery is a unique venue where the community spirit and magnificent
 location have inspired memorable meetings in the past.
 This year's workshop will involve up to 50 people, all accommodated on
 site and in the village. Many speakers will be specifically invited, but
 anyone who feels that they have something to contribute and who wishes to
 attend the event is most welcome to contact the organizer (Mike Towler:
 mdt26 at cam.ac.uk) for further details. There is no formal charge either
 for attendance at the conference or accommodation (unless you stay in a
 commercial hotel). A provisional programmme is available on the website.
 Further details of previous workshop back to 2005, including photographs,
 reports, and a complete archive of all the talks presented are available
 online here:
         http://vallico.net/casinoqmc/conferencesworkshops/
 A quantum Monte carlo summer school will be held at the same venue,
 beginning the day after the workshop closes. See here for details:
           http://vallico.net/casinoqmc/summer-schools/
 Remember, if it takes billions of determinantal basis functions to
 represent an unknown wiggly line, it's probably not a very good basis set.
 There is another way..
 Best wishes,
 Mike Towler
 PS: I almost hesitate to mention it, but in the current climate I should
 note that I am well aware that concerned CCL members will likely comb
 through the records of the nine previous meetings on the topic that I
 organized at this venue and note that, for example, there was only one
 tenured female academic (Hi Elif!) at the meeting last year, and only one
 other in the eight years before that. As the only member of the organizing
 committee, clearly the buck stops with me. Before everyone sets out to
 ruin my career, they should note two things: (1) I've managed to do that
 quite effectively all by myself - the money runs out next year so really
 there's no need, and (2) Profs. Carter, Gagliardi, and Krylov - and any
 other suitably qualified and interested female academics - are most
 welcome to attend, as indeed they always have been.