  We show that a chain of Heisenberg spins interacting with long-range dipolar
forces in a magnetic field h perpendicular to the chain exhibits a quantum
critical point belonging to the two-dimensional Ising universality class.
Within linear spin-wave theory the magnon dispersion for small momenta k is
[Delta^2 + v_k^2 k^2]^{1/2}, where Delta^2 \propto |h - h_c| and v_k^2 \propto
|ln k|. For fields close to h_c linear spin-wave theory breaks down and we
investigate the system using density-matrix and functional renormalization
group methods. The Ginzburg regime where non-Gaussian fluctuations are
important is found to be rather narrow on the ordered side of the transition,
and very broad on the disordered side.
