GEODESICS AROUND LINE DEFECTS IN ELASTIC SOLIDS

Topological defects in solids, usually described by complicated bounda ry conditions in elastic theory, may be described more simply as sourc es of a gravity-like deformation field in the geometric approach of Ka tanaev and Volovich. This way, the deformation field is described by a non-Euclidean metric that incorporates the boundary conditions impose d by the defects. A possible way of gaining some insight into the moti on of particles in a medium with topological defects (e.g., electrons in a dislocated metal) is to look at the geodesics of the medium aroun d the defect. In this work, we find the exact solution for the geodesi c equation for an elastic medium with a generic line defect, the dispi ration, that can either be a screw dislocation or a wedge disclination for particular choices of its parameters. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B .V.