The main objective of this course is to provide an introduction to up-to-date computational methods currently used at the front line of research in different fields of Physics; this is why four independent courses (channels) are offered under the same title of "Computing Methods for Physics".


This channel is mainly intended for students enrolled in the Condensed-Matter track. Its goal is to provide the students with both theoretical background and hands-on experience in three different computational approaches within the field of Condensed Matter Physics: (a)  the Density-Functional Theory and the pseudopotential theory, two crucial ingredients for today's first-principles predictions of electronic states, structural energies and interatomic forces in real molecules and solids; (b) the quantum (variational, diffusion, path-integral) Monte Carlo methods, their applicability and the motivations for their use in the numerical study of quantum many-body systems (solid or liquid helium, the electron gas, electrons in atoms and molecules); (c) numerical solutions of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, molecular dynamics algorithms and multi-scale models,  essential tools to investigate the dynamical properties of condensed matter.