Renormalization-group approach to surface critical behavior in the semi-infinite spin-3/2 Blume-Emery-Griffiths model

Using a renormalization-group transformation in position space based on the Migdal-Kadanoff recursion relations, we investigate the three-dimensional semi-infinite cubic spin-3/2 Blume-Emery-Griffiths model with single-site uniaxial anisotropy and nearest-neighbor pair interactions, both bilinear and biquadratic. The fixed-point topologies and corresponding phase diagrams predicted for this model are presented. Attention is focused on the renormalization-group description of the surface critical behaviors, in comparison with the mean-field approximation results. Three main classes of system phase diagrams are determined, featuring a rich variety of phase transitions associated with the surface with type being according to the values of bulk and surface interaction parameters. Surface critical, tricritical, bicritical, and multicritical points are also found.