Observation of unusual hysteretic magnetic properties of the rare earth intermetallic compound PrMnSi2: magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, heat capacity, and electronic band structure studies.

The magnetic properties of the rare earth intermetallic compound PrMnSi2 were characterized by carrying out magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, and heat capacity measurements and performing APW+lo/LDA+U electronic band structure calculations for several ordered spin states of PrMnSi2..