  Fisher-Hartwig asymptotics refers to the large $n$ form of a class of
Toeplitz determinants with singular generating functions. This class of
Toeplitz determinants occurs in the study of the spin-spin correlations for the
two-dimensional Ising model, and the ground state density matrix of the
impenetrable Bose gas, amongst other problems in mathematical physics. We give
a new application of the original Fisher-Hartwig formula to the asymptotic
decay of the Ising correlations above $T_c$, while the study of the Bose gas
density matrix leads us to generalize the Fisher-Hartwig formula to the
asymptotic form of random matrix averages over the classical groups and the
Gaussian and Laguerre unitary matrix ensembles. Another viewpoint of our
generalizations is that they extend to Hankel determinants the Fisher-Hartwig
asymptotic form known for Toeplitz determinants.
