General physics motivations for numerical simulations of quantum field theory

摘要

In this introductory article a brief description of quantum field theories (QFT) is presented with emphasis on the distinction between strongly and weakly coupled theories. A case is made for using numerical simulations to solve QCD, the regnant theory describing the interactions between quarks and gluons. I present an overview of what these calculations involve, why they are hard, and why they are tailor made for parallel computers. Finally, I try to communicate the excitement amongst the practitioners by giving examples of the quantities we will be able to calculate to within a few percent accuracy in the next five years.