  We present magnetic characterization of a binary rare-earth intermetallic
compound Er5Si3, crystallizing in Mn5Si3-type hexagonal structure, through
magnetization, heat-capacity, electrical resistivity, and magnetoresistance
measurements. Our investigations confirm that the compound exhibits two
magnetic transitions with decreasing temperature, first one at 35 K and the
second one at 15 K. The present results reveal that the second magnetic
transition is a disorder-broadened first-order transition, as shown by thermal
hysteresis in the measured data. Another important finding is that, below 15 K,
there is a magnetic-field-induced transition with a hysteretic effect with the
electrical resistance getting unusually enhanced at this transition and the
magnetorsistance (MR) is found to exhibit intriguing magnetic-field dependence
indicating novel magnetic phase-co-existence phenomenon. It thus appears that
this compound is characterized by interesting magnetic anomalies in the
temperature-magnetic-field phase diagram.
