24th IUPAP Conference on Computational Physics (2012): Introduction, acknowledgements, program

Abstract

Welcome to CCP2012, held next to the K computer site in Kobe and in Japan's best season. The Conference on Computational Physics (CCP) is organized annually under the auspices of Commission 20 of the IUPAP (International Union of Pure and Applied Physics). This is the first time it has been held in Japan. I was asked to be the chairman about two and half years ago and when I accepted the request I decided to make the conference very unique and different from the traditional style of CCP. I was not satisfied when I attended big conferences where the parallel sessions are classified with the name of the research field. These days we have many opportunities to attend domestic and international conferences, where it is possible to listen to many talks on the same topics. If the topics are very new, then the conference is very useful for my research. However, I wanted to have a conference where I could listen to a variety of topics carried out with the same method. Computational science is very unique and it is easy to organize a new type of conference with the classification in the horizontal direction of the matrix made of the names of research fields and the name of numerical methods. You may be able to list the names of methods easily; finite difference, Monte Carlo, particle, molecular dynamics and so on. I was dissatisfied to find that most conferences focus solely on research fields and the method that brings to the scientific research is not highlighted as much. I wanted to listen to topics from fundamental physics to industrial science in a systematic way. In order to create such a conference, a small number of experts is not enough, so I asked for the help of more than 100 Japanese computer scientists, in a variety of fields. We called this group the Japan Advisory Board (JAB). I asked them to recommend a member of the International Advisory Board (IAB). Then, we could start making the list of plenary and invited speakers. This was almost the end of March last year. CCP2012 is organized also to celebrate the shared use of the K computer and we selected a venue next to it. Its use is of course open to the public and started on 28 September, one month earlier than had been scheduled. I hope you also enjoy the guided tour of the K computer. Throughout CCP2012, I hope new collaborations start among scientists in different fields. It would be also my great pleasure if such an inter-disciplinary conference encouraged young scientists (with their fresh energy and skills) to challenge new topics in different fields, particularly emerging ones like bio-computing, industrial applications, social sciences and so on. Finally, allow me to express my sincere thanks to all members of the local organizing committee (LOC). Twenty scientists from three universities and one institute voluntarily worked very hard to prepare CCP2012. Hideaki Takabe (Aki) The Chairman, CCP2012