  We present an angle-resolved photoemission study of the electronic structure
of the three-dimensional pyrochlore iridate Nd2Ir2O7 through its magnetic
metal-insulator transition. Our data reveal that metallic Nd2Ir2O7 has a
quadratic band, touching the Fermi level at the Gamma point, similarly to that
of Pr2Ir2O7. The Fermi node state is, therefore, a common feature of the
metallic phase of the pyrochlore iridates. Upon cooling below the transition
temperature, this compound exhibits a gap opening with an energy shift of
quasiparticle peaks like a band gap insulator. The quasiparticle peaks are
strongly suppressed, however, with further decrease of temperature, and
eventually vanish at the lowest temperature, leaving a non-dispersive flat band
lacking long-lived electrons. We thereby identify a remarkable crossover from
Slater to Mott insulators with decreasing temperature. These observations
explain the puzzling absence of Weyl points in this material, despite its
proximity to the zero temperature metal-insulator transition.
