On Ising's model of ferromagnetism

Abstract

Ising discussed the following model of a ferromagnetic body: Assume N elementary magnets of moment μ to be arranged in a regular lattice; each of them is supposed to have only two possible orientations, which we call positive and negative. Assume further that there is an interaction energy U for each pair of neighbouring magnets of opposite direction. Further, there is an external magnetic field of magnitude H such as to produce an additional energy of − μ H (+ μ H ) for each magnet with positive (negative) direction.