Abstract. The Coupled Cluster Method (CC\I) is one of the most powerful and universally applied techniques of quanturn many-body theory. In particular, it has been used extensively in order to investigate many types of lattice quantum spin system at zero temperature. The ground-and excited-state properties of these systerns may now be determined routinely to great accuracy. In this Chapter we present an overview of the CCM formalism and we describe how the CC1\1 is applied in detaiL \Ve illustrate the power and versatility of the method by presenting results for four diH'erent spin models. These are, namely, the XXZ model, a Heisenberg model with bonds of differing strengths on the square lattice. a model which interpolates between the Kagome-and triangular-lattice antiferromagnets. and a frustrated ferrimagnetic spin system on the square lattice. vVe consider the ground-state properties of all of these systems and we present accurate results for the excitation energies of the spin-half square-lattice XXZ model. vVe utilise an "extcnded" SUB2 approximation scheme. and we demonstrate how this approximation Illay be solved exactly by using Fourier transform methods or, alternatively, by determining and solving the SUB2-m problem. \Ve also present the rcsults of "localised" approximation schemes called the LSUBm or SUBm-m schemes. \Ve note t hat we must utilise computational techniques in order to solvc these localised approximation schemes to "high order" vVe show that we are able to determine the positions of quantum phase transitions with much accuracy, and we demonstrate that we are able to determine their quantum criticality by using the CClvi in conjunction with the coherent anomaly method (CAM). Also. we illustrate that the CCM lnay be used in order to determine the "nodal surfaces" of lattice quantum spin systems, Finally. we show how connections to cumulant series expansions ma:-' be made by determining the perturbation series of a spin-half triangular-lattice antiferromagnet using the CCM at various levels of LSUBm approximation,
IntroductionKey experimental observations in fields such as supcrfluidity, superconductivity, nuclear structure, quantum chemistry, quantum magnetism and strOllgly correlated electronic systems have often implied that the strong quantum correlations inherent in these systems should be fully included, at least conceptually, in any theoretical calculations that aim fully to describe their basic