We report on magnetization, sound velocity, and magnetocaloric-effect measurements of the Ising-like spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic chain system BaCo$_2$V$_2$O$_8$ as a function of temperature down to 1.3 K and applied transverse magnetic field up to 60 T. While across the N{e}el temperature of $T_Nsim5$ K anomalies in magnetization and sound velocity confirm the antiferromagnetic ordering transition, at the lowest temperature the field-dependent measurements reveal a sharp softening of sound velocity $v(B)$ and a clear minimum of temperature $T(B)$ at $B^{c,3D}_perp=21.4$ T, indicating the suppression of the antiferromagnetic order. At higher fields, the $T(B)$ curve shows a broad minimum at $B^c_perp = 40$ T, accompanied by a broad minimum in the sound velocity and a saturation-like magnetization. These features signal a quantum phase transition which is further characterized by the divergent behavior of the Gr{u}neisen parameter $Gamma_B propto (B-B^{c}_perp)^{-1}$. By contrast, around the critical field, the Gr{u}neisen parameter converges as temperature decreases, pointing to a quantum critical point of the one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model.
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