On the problem of Yb₄As₃

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Based on a perusal of available experimental data, we propose a possible explanation for the heavy-fermion Fermi liquid state coexisting with quasi-one dimensional antiferromagnetism in the low-carrier pnictide Yb₄As₃. Both of these low temperature features are shown to originate from one single fact - the charge ordered state forming at high-T is imperfect, due to quantum fluctuations in the CO state. The quasi-1D magnetism is understood in terms of the physics of the squeezed Heisenberg chain, while the heavy fermion-like behavior arises from the compensation of the fraction of the Yb moments (which are disordered) by the 2p band of As. The proposed picture shows how the seemingly strange features observed experimentally can be reconciled as a result of this single hypothesis.