Transport and elastic anomalies in ZrTe₃

Anomalies were observed in electrical resistivity components, Hall coefficient and Young's modulus of semimetallic ZrTe₃ near 63K. The results suggest that a structural phase transition, e.g. the onset of a charge density wave, occurs. Analysis indicates that the hole band is more strongly affected by the transition, resulting in the strong renormalization of the elastic modulus.