On the creep of metals at very low temperatures

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Abstract
In 1956 Glen described a rapidly decaying type of creep occurring in cadmium crystals at 1–5°k. His analysis of the process, based on Mott's (1953) theory of low-temperature logarithmic creep, indicates that the energy barrier to the flow is of the order of 0·1 ev. Mott (1956) advanced the hypothesis that the barrier may be surmountable at such low temperatures because of the quantum mechanical tunnel effect; Täubert (1959) believes however that the temperatures are still too high for quantum effects to assume significance in creep. The object of the present note is to show that a plausible explanation of the observations is possible also on the basis of classical dislocation theory.