Ferromagnetism of local uranium moments in UBeGe

The new intermetallic uranium beryllium germanide UBeGe and its thorium reference compound ThBeGe crystallize with the hexagonal ZrBeSi type of structure. Studies of magnetic, thermal and transport properties reveal UBeGe to be a strongly uniaxial ferromagnet with two magnetic transitions at T_C(1) =160 K and T_C(2) =150 K. ThBeGe is a diamagnetic metallic system with low density of states at the Fermi level. The high magnetic moment, x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy as well as theoretical DFT calculations indicate localized U 5f² states in UBeGe.