Rotating magnetocaloric effect in HoAl2 single crystal

•Microscopic description of anisotropy in rare earth based compounds.•Rotating magnetocaloric effect in HoAl2 single crystal.•Anomalous behavior of the rotating caloric quantities in in HoAl2 single crystal.

In this paper we theoretically discuss the rotating magnetocaloric effect in HoAl2 single crystal. In order to do that, we use a model Hamiltonian of interacting magnetic moments including a term to account for the crystal electric field. Our theoretical calculations of the entropy changes are in a reasonable agreement with the available experimental data. Moreover, we predict the existence of an anomalous rotating magnetocaloric effect for some directions of the magnetic field rotation.