Intriguing magnetic and electrical transport behavior in novel CeTAs2 (T = Cu, Ag, Au) compounds

The ternaries CeTAs2 (T = Cu, Ag, Au) were investigated by means of magnetization, electrical resistivity, magnetoresistivity, thermoelectric power and heat capacity measurements. CeCuAs2 is paramagnetic down to 1.72 K, whereas the other two arsenides order antiferromagnetically at low temperatures (TN = 6 K and 4 K for CeAgAs2 and CeAuAs2, respectively). For CeAgAs2 another magnetic phase transition occurs in the ordered state (at Tm = 4.8 K). All these compounds exhibit enhanced values of the electronic specific heat coefficient, and some Kondo features in the temperature - and/or magnetic field - dependent electrical resistivity. In the case of CeAuAs2 pronounced hysteretic behaviors of the magnetic susceptibility and the electrical resistivity are observed near room temperature, which hint at a structural phase transformation