Electronuclear Transition into a Spatially Modulated Magnetic State in YbRh₂Si₂

The nature of the antiferromagnetic order in the heavy fermion metal YbRh2Si2, its quantum criticality, and superconductivity, which appears at low mK temperatures, remain open questions. We report measurements of the heat capacity over the wide temperature range 180 μK–80 mK, using current sensing noise thermometry. In zero magnetic field we observe a remarkably sharp heat capacity anomaly at 1.5 mK, which we identify as an electronuclear transition into a state with spatially modulated electronic magnetic order of maximum amplitude 0.1 μB. We also report results of measurements in magnetic fields in the range 0 to 70 mT, applied perpendicular to the c axis, which show eventual suppression of this order. These results demonstrate a coexistence of a large moment antiferromagnet with putative superconductivity.