The Random-Cluster Model

Therandom-clustermodelwasinventedbyCees[Kees]FortuinandPietKasteleyn around 1969 as a uni?cation of percolation, Ising, and Potts models, and as an extrapolation of electrical networks. Their original motivation was to harmonize the series and parallel laws satis?ed by such systems. In so doing, they initiated a study in stochastic geometry which has exhibited beautiful structure in its own right, and which has become a central tool in the pursuit of one of the oldest challenges of classical sta