Electronic Component of Dislocation Drag in Metals

The rate of energy dissipation resulting from the uniform motion of a dislocation through a free-electron gas is reevaluated. The analysis, which is based upon electron-transport theory, leads to a damping force upon the dislocation in agreement with that derived by Holstein using standard perturbation theory. The source of the discrepancy between the present result and that obtained from a previous treatment of the Boltzmann equation is elucidated.