Disentangling lattice and electronic ordering in U2Ti

U2Ti is a three dimensional metallic system that has been shown to host a Peierls-like CDW ordering at low temperature; the ordering is one dimensional and forms without domain structure [C. R. Stevens et al. PRB. 109(12), 125116 (2024)]. However, despite its simplicity this state is preceded by an incommensurate (ICDW) ordering transition at higher temperature. These transitions appear to be distinct in their effect on the electronic and lattice degrees of freedom, as indicated by thermodynamic properties and temperature dependence of the lattice parameters. The distinction motivates neutron diffraction, to differentiate the charge ordering (already measured by x-ray diffraction) from the lattice displacements (that we propose to measure with neutron diffraction). Comparison of the ordering wavevector and diffraction intensity from these two methods will shed light on this unusual ordering and is potentially relevant to slow charge fluctuations, linked to nearby CDWs, that may play an important role in the formation of strange metal states in high-temperature superconductors and heavy fermions.