Quantum embeddings are a versatile and successful family of approaches to study the quantum many-body problem. As a quantum generalization of the simple mean field of statistical physics, they describe complex quantum systems in terms of minimal models of an atom embedded in a sea of fermions. After introducing some of the major challenges of the quantum many-body problem, I will present a little tour for non-experts of quantum embeddings, the mathematical challenges they raise, and their applications from Fermi liquids up to the fascinating "strange" metals.
