Critical behavior and phase diagrams of a spin-1 Blume-Capel model with random crystal field interactions: An effective field theory analysis

A spin-1 Blume-Capel model with dilute and random crystal fields is examined for honeycomb and square lattices by introducing an effective-field approximation that takes into account the correlations between different spins that emerge when expanding the identities. For dilute crystal fields, we have given a detailed exploration of the global phase diagrams of the system in k(B)T(c)/J - D/J plane with the second and first order transitions, as well as tricritical points. We have also investigated the effect of the random crystal field distribution characterized by two crystal field parameters D/J and Delta/J on the phase diagrams of the system. The system exhibits clear distinctions in a qualitative manner with coordination number q for random crystal fields with Delta/J, D/J not equal 0. We have also found that, under certain conditions, the system may exhibit a number of interesting and unusual phenomena, such as reentrant behavior of first and second order, as well as a double reentrance with three successive phase transitions. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.