Dislocation formalism in crystals with long-range interactions

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A formalism is presented which allows one to describe defects of a dislocation type in crystals where interactions are of long range. The formalism presented starts at a microscopic level and makes use of a gauge symmetry of the lattice Hamiltonian which has hitherto not been exploited for such purposes. The formalism is then applied to the calculation of the energy of defect structures in two- and three-dimensional Wigner crystals. It is shown that within the "harmonic" approximation where defects decouple from the phonon excitations these crystals are unstable against defect production. The physical consequences of this result with respect to melting in Wigner crystals are discussed.