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Ab initio theory of electron drag and wind forces on dislocations: Bridging quantum transport and electroplasticity

Beñat Gurrutxaga-Lerma

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Phys. Rev. Materials 10, 033803 – Published 18 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/t697-7fn5

Abstract

We develop a conserving Keldysh field theory for a moving dislocation represented by a discrete Kanzaki force and coupled to electronic and phononic baths. Within this framework the configurational electron wind force and the electronic drag emerge as the odd and even components of a single retarded stress correlation kernel constructed from the same deformation potential vertex, placing both mechanisms on the same many-body footing as standard transport coefficients. Symmetry of the slip geometry enforces a shear channel theorem in which electronic drag couples only to shear stress, while the electron wind is polar with respect to the Burgers vector, providing a microscopic mechanism for current-induced texture evolution. The formalism yields closed expressions for electronic drag and electron wind in terms of Fermi surface averages of deformation potentials, band velocities, and the screened Kanzaki projector, with no phenomenological relaxation times or adjustable masses. Evaluated from first principles for edge dislocations in face-centered cubic Al and basal dislocations in hexagonal close-packed Zn, these expressions give electronic drag coefficients that are several orders of magnitude smaller than phonon drag throughout the experimentally relevant temperature range, whereas the electron wind produces configurational stresses of order megapascals at current densities J∼108–109Am−2, consistent with reported electroplastic softening. Extension to finite magnetic field predicts a magnetoplastic analog of magnetoresistance, in which the drag is suppressed by cyclotron deflection while the wind remains essentially field independent. The theory therefore converts wind and drag from phenomenological fit parameters into parameter free functionals of the electronic structure and provides a direct route from electronic structure calculations to dislocation mobility laws in electroplastic and magnetoplastic flow.

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Phys. Rev. Materials 10, 033803– Published 18 March, 2026
  • Received 5 December 2025
  • Revised 20 February 2026
  • Accepted 2 March 2026
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