Interplay of electronic correlations and lattice instabilities in BaVS3

The quasi-one-dimensional metallic system BaVS3 with a metal-insulator transition at T_MI=70 K shows large changes of the optical phonon spectrum, a central peak, and an electronic Raman scattering continuum that evolve in a three-step process. Motivated by the observation of a strongly fluctuating precursor state at high temperatures and orbital ordering and a charge gap at low temperatures we suggest a concerted action of the orbital, electronic, and lattice subsystems dominated by electronic correlations.