It was recalled that the Peierls energy, which was the variation in energy of a moving dislocation, was normally calculated by using the original Peierls-Nabarro procedure. This involved summing the energy at the atomic positions while the displacement profile of the dislocation was shifted rigidly. This did not allow for any change in shape and thus for any resultant change in elastic energy. It was shown here that such changes in shape did in fact take place and led to considerable changes in the elastic and misfit energies. However, the two contributions were of opposite sign and largely cancelled each other out.

The Peierls Energy Revisited. G.Schoeck: Philosophical Magazine A, 1999, 79[11], 2629-36