The fourth international summer school in the series "Quantum Monte Carlo
and the CASINO program" will take place during August 2009 at the TTI
monastery in the Tuscan Apuan Alps in Italy, organized and hosted by members
of Cambridge University physics department's Theory of Condensed Matter
Group. The aim of the school is to give students a thorough introduction
to quantum Monte Carlo as a method for performing high-quality
calculations of the electronic structure of atoms, molecules, and
materials. The course is designed for young quantum chemists or
theoretical physicists who have no previous experience with this
technique, though anyone interested is welcome to take part.

The monastery is a unique venue where the community spirit and magnificent
location have inspired memorable workshops in the past. It is a delightful
16th century building incorporating an ancient church, and is situated in
the isolated but spectacular setting of the Tuscan mountain village of
Vallico Sotto. We are fully equipped with relevant presentation and computer
technology, and all accommodation is on-site. As with all events at the
Institute, formal lectures are restricted to the mornings, and
participants are given the freedom and space to think and to contemplate
and discuss the issues at hand. In addition to hands-on exercises, a
programme of healthy recreational activities will be organized in the
afternoons, and it is hoped that by following this strict regime, together
with breathing clean mountain air and by preparing and sampling fine
Tuscan cuisine, the participant will be able to return home mentally and
physically refreshed as well as better informed.

Describing the complex behaviour of materials at the atomic level requires
a sophisticated description of the correlated motion of the electrons.
Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) is an increasingly popular and explicitly
many-body method with the unusual capability of yielding highly accurate
results whilst also exhibiting a very favourable scaling of computational
cost with system size. Over the last eighteen years, the Cambridge group
have been researching QMC methods and we have created a powerful, general
computer program - CASINO - to carry out the calculations. The school will
focus both on the basic theory of QMC and on more advanced practical
techniques, and will include a thorough introduction to the CASINO
program. A background in density functional theory or similar is normally
thought to be useful.

Instructors will include the main authors of the CASINO program (Dr. Mike
Towler, Dr. Neil Drummond and Dr. Pablo Lopez Rios) and possibly others.

Participants would normally need to book a flight to Pisa airport from
where onward transportation will be arranged (though other destinations
are possible). Details of previous schools - including photographs - are
available under the PUBLIC EVENTS link on the TTI web site.

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

NB: TTI IS AVAILABLE FOR HOSTING EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER - PLEASE ASK