Quantum Monte Carlo studies of bound and unbound states

Over the last fifteen years, there has been tremendous progress in understanding how nuclear structure arises from the nucleon-nucleon interaction. I describe the contribution to this progress made by quantum Monte Carlo computational methods, as well as directions to be taken in future work. Most effort in the past has concentrated on energy spectra, and we have had good success in computing the spectra of systems with A≤12. We are now shifting our attention to off-diagonal and scattering/reaction properties of the light nuclei. I also discuss briefly the relation of quantum Monte Carlo methods to other ab initio methods and their particular relevance for weakly-bound nuclei produced at radioactive-beam facilities.