Computer Simulation Studies in Condensed-Matter Physics XIII

Book excerpt: Almost fifteen years ago, because of the phenomenal growth in the power of computer simulations, The University of Georgia formed the first institu tional unit devoted to the use of simulations in research and teaching: The Center for Simulational Physics. As the international simulations community expanded further, we sensed a need for a meeting place for both experi enced simulators and neophytes to discuss new techniques and recent results in an environment which promoted extended discussion. As a consequence, the Center for Simulational Physics established an annual workshop on Re cent Developments in Computer Simulation Studies in Condensed Matter Physics. This year's workshop was the thirteenth in this series, and the con tinued interest shown by the scientific community demonstrates quite clearly the useful purpose that these meetings have served. The latest workshop was held at The University of Georgia, February 21-25, 2000, and these proceed ings provide a "status report" on a number of important topics. This volume is published with the goal of timely dissemination of the material to a wider audience. We wish to offer a special thanks to the IBM Corporation for its generous support of this year's workshop. We also acknowledge the Donors of the Petroleum Research Fund, administered by the American Chemical Society, and the National Science Foundation for partial support. This volume contains both invited papers and contributed presentations on problems in both classical and quantum condensed matter physics.