Determining the equation of state via microscopic simulations*

I will provide an overview of the status of modern nuclear theory, especially in connection with the determination of the equation of state of nucleonic matter. I will also discuss the relevance of microscopic simulations to the study of strongly interacting nucleons. Starting with some general points on the underlying theory of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), I will then go over the efforts toward connecting QCD with many-nucleon studies (via chiral Effective Field Theory [EFT]). I will also introduce a recent local reformulation of chiral EFT, which makes it possible to use such modern potentials within the framework of Quantum Monte Carlo (an essentially exact type of microscopic simulation method).