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The Ising Model and Peierls' Argument

Student-Run Research Seminar

Speaker: Justin Abbott, UC Davis Mathematics Dept.
Location: 693 Kerr
Start time: Mon, Apr 22 2002, 11:00AM

The Ising model is a classical model of magnetism introduced in 1925 to study phase transitions. In 1-d Ising himself showed that there was not a phase transition and incorrectly concluded that the model did not exibit a phase transition. In 1936 Peierls showed that there was a phase transition in 2-d. I will briefly introduce what a phase transition is, both physically and mathematically, define the Ising model, and present a proof in the spirit of Peierls that it has a phase transition in 2-d.