Dislocation-phonon interaction

The recent result that uniform screw dislocation motion can be sustained by an applied stress s < 10^?5 initiates a study of the influence of intrinsic, low energy atomic vibrations on the dislocation. This dislocationphonon interaction is examined for two types of interatomic potentials in a crystal with an anisotropic slip system. For realistic interatomic potentials, we find that, in the presence of an appropriate phonon, uniform motion can occur at velocities v?0.50 (in units of the speed of sound) with zero externally applied stress, or even against the direction of motion favored by such a stress.