The recently discovered ${\text{CaFe}}_4{\text{As}}_3$ system displays low-temperature Fermi-liquid behavior, with enhanced electron-electron correlations. At high temperatures, the magnetic susceptibility shows Curie-Weiss behavior, with a large temperature-independent contribution. Antiferromagnetic ordering is observed below $T_N=\left(88.0\pm 1.0\right)\text{K}$, possibly via a spin density wave transition. A remarkably sharp drop in resistivity occurs below $T_2=\left(26.4\pm 1.0\right)\text{K}$, correlated with a similarly abrupt increase in the susceptibility but no visible feature in the specific heat. The electronic specific-heat coefficient $\gamma$ at low temperatures is close to $0.02\text{J}{\text{mol}}_{\text{Fe}}^{-1}{\text{K}}^{-2}$, but a higher value for $\gamma \sim 0.08\text{J}{\text{mol}}_{\text{Fe}}^{-1}{\text{K}}^{-2}$ can be inferred from a linear $Cp/T$ vs $T^2$ just above $T_2$. The Kadowaki-Woods ratio $A/{\gamma }^2=55\ast {10}^{-5}\mu \Omega \text{cm}{\text{mol}}^2{\text{K}}^2{\text{mJ}}^{-2}$ is nearly two orders of magnitude larger than that of heavy fermions.

• Received 20 March 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.80.020404