Quantum Monte Carlo is a highly accurate method to approximately solve the Schrodinger equation. I explain quantum Monte Carlo in a way that should be accessible to someone who is somewhat familiar with quantum mechanics. The discussion is mostly conceptual.

Lucas Wagner is a postdoctoral researcher in the Computational Nanosciences group at UC Berkeley, under the supervision of Dr. Jeffrey Grossman. One of his PhD projects was the development of a general purpose quantum Monte Carlo program available under the GPL at www.qwalk.org.

NCN

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Lucas Wagner; Jeffrey C Grossman; Jeffrey B. Neaton (2007), "The basics of quantum Monte Carlo," https://nanohub.org/resources/2816.

1. computational chemistry
2. introductory
3. material science
4. quantum
5. quantum chemistry
6. quantum mechanics