Specific heat of the mixed spin-1/2 and spin-S Ising model with a rope ladder structure

The mixed spin-1/2 and spin-S (S>1/2) Ising model on a rope ladder is examined by combining two exact analytical methods. By the decoration-iteration mapping transformation, this mixed-spin system is firstly transformed to a simple spin-1/2 Ising model on the two-leg ladder, which is then exactly solved by the standard transfer-matrix method. The thermal variations of the zero-field specific heat are discussed in particular.