  We study a thermally induced spin flip of an electron spin located in a
semiconductor quantum dot. This interesting effect arises from an intriguing
interplay between the Zeeman coupling to an external magnetic field and the
hyperfine interaction with the surrounding nuclear spins. By considering a
minimal model, we explain the main mechanism driving this spin flip and analyze
its dependence on the strength of the external magnetic field, the number of
nuclear spins and the ratio of the electron and nuclear Zeeman energies,
respectively. Finally we show, that this minimal model can be applied to
experimentally relevant QDs in III-V heterostructures, where we explicitly
predict the temperature at which the spin flip occurs.
