The collective behavior of a system of straight parallel edge dislocations
under cyclic plastic deformation is investigated. For describing the disloc
ation pattern formation two different stochastic approaches are considered
and compared. In one of them the discrete dislocation system is described b
y coupled Langevin equations; in the other one a continuum approach is appl
ied. Typical deformation patterns ("matrix structures") are found by stocha
stic integration. [S0163-1829(99)08825-6].