Correlation-Driven 3d Heavy Fermion Behavior in LiV₂O₄

LiV₂O₄ is a spinel-structured compound that stands out as the first known 3d-electron system exhibiting typical heavy fermion behavior. A central question is how such strong mass renormalization emerges in the absence of f-electrons. In this work, we investigate the three-dimensional electronic structure of LiV₂O₄ thin films using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We identify that an electron-like flat band is derived from a_1g orbitals, along with a highly dispersive e′_g band strongly coupled with phonons. The overall agreement with dynamical mean-field theory calculations highlights the essential role of inter-orbital Hund’s coupling in reducing the a_1g bandwidth to 25 meV, approaching a Mott state. Notably, we find that heavy-fermion behavior arises from additional renormalization at the a_1g band near the Fermi level, likely driven by many-body interactions at energy scales down to a few meV and potentially linked to geometric frustration inherent to the spinel lattice. These results provide crucial insights into the origin of the heavy fermion behavior in 3d-electron systems.