Introduction

Abstract

Abstract This book is about the use of computers to solve problems in statistical physics. In particular, it is about Monte Carlo methods, which form the largest and most important class of numerical methods used for solving statistical physics problems. In this opening chapter of the book we look first at what we mean by statistical physics, giving a brief overview of the discipline we call statistical mechanics. Whole books have been written on statistical mechanics, and our synopsis takes only a few pages, so we must necessarily deal only with the very basics of the subject. We are assuming that these basics are actually already familiar to you, but writing them down here will give us a chance to bring back to mind some of the ideas that are most relevant to the study of Monte Carlo methods. In this chapter we also look at some of the difficulties associated with solving problems in statistical physics using a computer, and outline what Monte Carlo techniques are, and why they are useful. In the last section of the chapter, purely for fun, we give a brief synopsis of the history of computational physics and Monte Carlo methods.