Phase transitions and critical phenomena in a three-dimensional site-diluted Potts model

The phase transitions and critical phenomena in the three-dimensional (3D) site-diluted q-state Potts models on a simple cubic lattice are explored. We systematically study the phase transitions of the models for q=3 and q=4 on the basis of Wolff high-effective algorithm by the Monte-Carlo (MC) method. The calculations are carried out for systems with periodic boundary conditions and spin concentrations p=1.00-0.65. It is shown that introducing of weak disorder (p∼0.95) into the system is sufficient to change the first order phase transition into a second order one for the 3D 3-state Potts model, while for the 3D 4-state Potts model, such a phase transformation occurs when introducing strong disorder (p∼0.65). Results for 3D pure 3-state and 4-state Potts models (p=1.00) agree with conclusions of mean field theory. The static critical exponents of the specific heat α, susceptibility γ, magnetization β, and the exponent of the correlation radius ν are calculated for the samples on the basis of finite-size scaling theory.