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The finite-temperature Monte Carlo method and its application to superfluid helium clusters

We review the use of the path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) methodology to the study of finite-size quantum clusters, with particular emphasis on recent applications to pure and impurity-doped He clusters. We describe the principles of PIMC, the use of the multilevel Metropolis method for sampling particle permutations, and the methods used to accurately incorporate anisotropic molecule-helium interactions into the path integral scheme. Applications to spectroscopic studies of embedded atoms and molecules are summarized, with discussion of the new concepts of local and nanoscale superfluidity that have been generated by recent PIMC studies of the impurity-doped He clusters.