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Structural, electronic, magnetic, and thermal properties of single-crystalline UNi0.5Sb2

We studied the properties of the antiferromagnetic (AFM) UNi0.5Sb2 (TN \approx 161 K) compound in Sb-flux grown single crystals by means of measurements of neutron diffraction, magnetic susceptibility (χ), specific heat (Cp), thermopower (S), thermal conductivity (κ), linear thermal expansion (ΔL/L), and electrical resistivity (ρ) under hydrostatic pressures (P) up to 22 kbar. The neutron diffraction measurements revealed that the compound crystallizes in the tetragonal P42/nmc structure, and the value of the U-moments yielded by the histograms at 25 K is \approx 1.85 \pm 0.12 μB/U-ion. In addition to the features in the bulk properties observed at TN, two other hysteretic features centered near 40 and 85 K were observed in the measurements of χ, S, ρ, and ΔL/L. Hydrostatic pressure was found to raise TN at the rate of \approx 0.76 K/kbar, while suppressing the two low temperature features. These features are discussed in the context of Fermi surface and hybridization effects.