The electronic band structure and Fermi surface of YbBiPt

The local density band structure of the heavy-fermion compound YbBiPt is calculated using the linear-muffin-tin-orbital method. The topology of the resulting Fermi surface is investigated and found to be remarkably simple. In order to explain the observed low-field linear coefficient of the specific heat in terms of single particle excitations an enhancement of the band-structure density of states at the Fermi level by a factor of 750 is required. A corresponding enhancement of the calculated cyclotron masses would predict the existence of fermion quasiparticles with masses several thousand times that of the bare electron. The feasibility of observing such highly renormalized particles by means of the de Haas-van Alphen effect is considered.