We examine the statistical mechanics of spin-ice materials with a [100] magnetic field. We show that the approach to saturated magnetisation is, in the low-temperature limit, an example of a 3D Kasteleyn transition, which is topological in the sense that magnetisation is changed only by excitations that span the entire system. We study the transition analytically and using a Monte Carlo cluster algorithm, and compare our results with recent data from experiments on Dy2Ti2O7.
@article{arxiv.0710.0976,
title = {A Three Dimensional Kasteleyn Transition: Spin Ice in a [100] Field},
author = {Ludovic D. C. Jaubert and J. T. Chalker and Peter C. W. Holdsworth and R. Moessner},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0710.0976},
year = {2008}
}