Quantum many-body theories can be used to describe the physics of quantum systems with many strongly interacting particles. In condensed matter physics, these theories are typically applied to effective low-energy lattice models, which are designed to capture only the essential degrees of freedom of a solid. Such models contain phenomenological parameters and are often not predictive.

This talk will summarize recent progress on solving the many-body problem ab-initio, i.e. without adjustable parameters and without the construction of effective low-energy models. We will showcase algorithmic and computational advances that have enabled high-precision calculations of solids with strong quantum effects. A path towards controlled and adaptive many-body simulations is outlined.