Аннотация:The formation of a novel ternary compound CeRh2Ga2 was established in the course
of our investigation of the phase equilibria in the Ce-Rh-Ga system. Its crystal structure
at room temperature was determined from the single-crystal X-ray diffraction data to
be of the CaBe2Ge2-type. The refined value of the tetragonal lattice parameters ratio c/a
implies a possible instability towards a lower symmetry structure. Indeed, the structural
phase transition occurs at Ts = 265 K, and manifests itself as distinct anomalies in the
temperature variations of the heat capacity and the electrical resistivity. Below Ts, the
compound exhibits unusual behavior of the electrical transport with a non-monotonous
rise of the resistivity with decreasing temperature. At Tm = 1 K, both C(T) and (T)
show maxima of magnetic origin. Above Tm, CeRh2Ga2 is a Curie-Weiss paramagnet
with fairly stable 4f electronic shell. The thermodynamic and electrical transport data
concomitantly indicate a heavy-fermion character of the compound studied.