The differential geometry of elementary point and line defects in Bravais crystals

Abstract

Since line defects (dislocations) and point defects (vacancies, self-interstitials, point stacking faults) in Bravais crystals can mutually convert, only theories which comprise these two sorts of defects can be closed in the sense of general field theory. Since the pioneering work of Kondo and of Bilby, Bullough, and Smith it is clear that differential geometry is the appropriate mathematical tool to formulate a field theory of defects in ordered structures. This is done here on the example of the Bravais crystal, where the above-mentioned defects are the only elementary point and line defects. It is shown that point defects can be described by a step-counting procedure which makes it possible to include also point stacking faults as elementary point defects. The results comprise two equations with the appropriate interpretation of the mathematical symbols. The point defects are step-counting defects and are essentially described by a metric tensorg, which supplements the torsion∑ responsible for the dislocations. The proposed theory is meant to form a framework for defect phenomena, in a similar way that Maxwell's theory is a framework for the electromagnetic world.