Phase diagrams and hysteresis behavior of the mixed spin-7/2 and spin-1/2 Ising model

The mixed spin-7/2 and spin-1/2 Ising model with a crystal field in the absence and presence of an external longitudinal magnetic field is investigated within the framework both of the renormalization group (RG) method and Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). First, we have determined the ground-state phase diagram. Then, using RG technique, the finite temperature phase diagrams of this model are plotted for the two- and three-dimensional cases by following the flow in the parameters space of the Hamiltonian and evaluating the free energy and its isotherm derivative at low temperatures. Our results show that the model exhibits first- and second-order phase transitions as well as critical end-points. In addition, by linearizing the RG transformation at the vicinity of the fixed points of the second-order transition, we have determined the critical exponents. The MCS is also employed to validate the results obtained previously by renormalization, and to examine the influence of an external magnetic field on the magnetic properties and hysteresis loops of the system.