Specific heat, magnetisation and stability of canted structure in GdMg and related compounds

Abstract

A canted structure has been previously discovered in GdMg equiatomic compounds. The authors study the specific heat of this compound and that of isomorphous YMg. The magnetic contribution in GdMg presents two anomalies at the Curie temperature and at the ferromagnetic canted structure transition. They discuss the equilibrium of the canted structure within different models involving high-order interactions, or a change of interactions in the ordered range. The theoretical predictions are compared to the actual data for the temperature variation of the magnetisation, canting angle and specific heat. The most probable origin of the canted structure seems to be the nonlinear behaviour of the conduction band magnetisation.