  Some recent investigations of the thermal equilibrium properties of kinks in
a $1+1$-dimensional, classical $\Phi^4$ field theory are reviewed. The
distribution function, kink density, correlation function, and certain
thermodynamic quantities were studied both theoretically and via large scale
simulations. A simple double Gaussian variational approach within the transfer
operator formalism was shown to give good results in the intermediate
temperature range where the dilute gas theory is known to fail.
