  The band structure of the cubic spinel compound LiV_2O_4, which has been
reported recently to show heavy Fermion behavior, has been calculated within
the local-density approximation using a full-potential version of the linear
augmented-plane-wave method. The results show that partially-filled V 3d bands
are located about 1.9 eV above the O 2p bands and the V 3d bands are split into
a lower partially-filled t_{2g} complex and an upper unoccupied e_{g} manifold.
The fact that the conduction electrons originate solely from the t_{2g} bands
suggests that the mechanism for the mass enhancement in this system is
different from that in the 4f heavy Fermion systems, where these effects are
attributed to the hybridization between the localized 4f levels and itinerant
spd bands.
