Avoided ferromagnetic quantum critical point in CeZn

Abstract

Cubic CeZn shows a structural phase transition under pressure, and it modifies the ground state from an antiferromagnetic (AFM) state to a ferromagnetic (FM) state. To investigate how the FM state terminates at a quantum phase transition, we measured the electrical resistivity under pressure for a single crystal CeZn. The transition temperature into the FM state decreases monotonously with increasing pressure, accompanied by the pronounced Kondo effect, but a drastic change in the field response occurs before the ordered phase terminates. This result suggests that the FM quantum critical point is avoided by the appearance of an AFM-like state.