Kurt Binder received his Ph.D. at the Technical University of Vienna in1969 with a thesis on Monte Carlo simulations of Ising and Heisenberg magnets, and since then he has pioneered the development of Monte Carlo simulation methods in statistical physics. From 1969 to 1974, Kurt Binder worked at the Technical University in Munich, interrupted by a period as IBM postdoctoral fellow in Zurich in 1972-73. After a stay at Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ (1974), and a first appointment as Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Saarbrücken back in Germany (1974-1977), he held a joint appointment as Full Professor at the University of Cologne and as one of the Directors of the Institute of Solid State Research at Jülich (1977-1983). He has held his present position as Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Mainz, Germany, since 1983, and since 1989 he has also been an external member of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz. Kurt Binder has written more than 1100 research publications and edited 5 books on computer simulations. He received the German Physical Society's Max Planck Medal in 1993. He is an Editorial Board member of several journals and has served as Chairman of the IUPAP Commission on Statistical Physics. In 2001 he was awarded the Berni Alder CECAM prize by the European Physical Society. In 2007 he received the Boltzmann Medal from the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and an honorary Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the Marie-Curie-Sklodowska University (Lublin, Poland), and was named one of the first Gutenberg Fellows at the University of Mainz. In 2009 he was the winner of the Lennard-Jones Prize awarded by the Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the field of thermodynamics. He retired from office in 2012, but is still active in research. From 2011 to 2017 he has been the Chairman of the Scientific Council of the John von Neumann Institute for Computing at the Supercomputer Centre Jülich.

Features exercises and a modular structure, making it highly suitable for university courses

Updates the widely used and cited previous editions with chapters on powerful special algorithms and finite scaling tools for the study of interfacial phenomena

Serves as authoritative introduction by leading experts in the field

Introduction: Purpose and Scope of this Volume, and Some General Comments.- Theoretical Foundations of the Monte Carlo Method and Its Applications in Statistical Physics.- Guide to Practical Work with the Monte Carlo Method.- Some Important Developments of the Monte Carlo Methodology.- Quantum Monte Carlo Simulation: An Introduction.- Monte Carlo Methods for the Sampling of Free Energy Landscapes.- Special Monte Carlo Algorithms.- Finite Size Scaling Tools for the Study of Interfacial Phenomena and Wetting.