Heavy-fermion behavior of the spinel-based transition-metal oxide LiV2O4 -: art. no. 033105

Motivated by the heavy-fermion Fermi-liquid (HFFL) features observed at low T in the spinel LiV2O4, we consider a material-specific model that includes aspects of the local quantum chemistry, the geometrically frustrated lattice structure, and strong correlations in a single approach. In particular, we show how geometrical frustration (GF) gives rise to a crossover scale, T*<<J, the intersite (AF) exchange, below which the metallic system shows HFFL features. Our scenario is a specific realization of the importance of GF effects in driving HFFL behavior in LiV2O4, and provides a natural understanding of various puzzling features observed experimentally.