CCL: Quantum Monte Carlo conference - Tuscany, Italy
- From: "Mike Towler" <mdt26:cam.ac.uk>
- Subject: CCL: Quantum Monte Carlo conference - Tuscany, Italy
- Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 20:46:53 -0500
Sent to CCL by: "Mike Towler" [mdt26]*[cam.ac.uk]
Quantum Monte Carlo in the Apuan Alps IX
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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.