Thermodynamic evidence for broken fourfold rotational symmetry in the hidden-order phase of URu2Si2

Despite more than a quarter century of research, the nature of the second-order phase transition in the heavy-fermion metal URu2Si2 remains enigmatic. The key question is which symmetry is being broken below this hidden order'' transition. We review the recent progress on this issue, particularly focusing on the thermodynamic evidence from very sensitive micro-cantilever magnetic torque measurements that the fourfold rotational symmetry of the underlying tetragonal crystal is broken. The angle dependence of the torque under in-plane field rotation exhibits the twofold oscillation term, which sets in just below the transition temperature. This observation restricts the symmetry of the hidden order parameter to the E+- or E--type, depending on whether the time reversal symmetry is preserved or not. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.