Executive summary

In the Peter Grünberg Institute and the Research Alliance, section JARA-FIT we explore the basics of information technology for the future. The Institute for Advanced SImulation  and the section JARA-HPC, we are helping to exploit the possibilities of computer simulations to answer current research questions fully. We help to educate young scientists through the German Research School for Simulation Sciences (GRS) and by lectures at the RWTH Aachen and through the supervision of master's theses and doctoral dissertations at our institute.

Our expertise is in describing the electronic properties of real solids systems from the first principles of quantum mechanics. We rely on modern methods of many-body theory, e.g. density functional theory (DFT) and related methods, and the development of computational methods for cluster computers and supercomputers.

Our institute is one of about 40 employees. Our institutional funding we receive from the research program FIT - Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, part of the research field Key Technology of the Helmholtz Association. A large part of our institute is financed through third party grants.