Boundary tractions in the gauge theory of dislocations and disclinations (Q1068606)

A null Lagrangian is added to the Lagrangian of elasticity in order to include boundary tractions and initial values for the linear momentum. The Yang-Mills minimal replacement construct is then applied, in order to restore the invariance of the Lagrangian under the inhomogeneous action of the gauge group \(SO(3)\triangleright T(3)\). This results in the introduction of compensating fields, which describe defects in elastic materials. The field equations show that dislocations are driven by appropriately defined effective stresses and linear momenta, and disclinations are driven by effective couple-stresses and angular momenta.