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Science 2 June 2000:
Vol. 288. no. 5471, pp. 1561 - 1562
DOI: 10.1126/science.288.5471.1561a
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News of the Week

MATHEMATICS:
Statistical Physicists Phase Out a Dream

Barry Cipra

Physicists have long sought an exact mathematical solution to the Ising model, a powerful tool for studying phase transitions--the abrupt changes of state that occur, for instance, when ice melts or cooling iron becomes magnetic--because it would provide much more information about such still-mysterious transitions. Now a theoretical computer scientist has proved that the Ising model--at least in its most general, three-dimensional form--belongs to a class of problems that theorists believe will remain unsolved forever.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)