Computational condensed matter physics: a brief introduction

Using the computer, combined with numerical methods and software, a field named computational physics has developed rapidly in recent years. In this field, scientists have successfully solved a large number of difficult problems in traditional physics regarding materials design and physical principles, establishing a bridge between theory and experiment. We briefly review the history and development of computational physics from its beginning, then focus on its applications in condensed matter physics. Numerical methods based on exact diagonalization, the numerical renormalization group, Monte Carlo simulation, dynamic mean field theory, etc., are briefly described. The future of computational condensed matter physics is also discussed in terms of exploring novel physical phenomena and developing computational methods.