Γ-convergence analysis of the nonlinear self-energy induced by edge dislocations in semi-discrete and discrete models in two dimensions.

We propose nonlinear semi-discrete and discrete models for the elastic energy induced by a finite system of edge dislocations in two dimensions. Within the dilute regime, we analyze the asymptotic behavior of the nonlinear elastic energy, as the core-radius (in the semi-discrete model) and the lattice spacing (in the purely discrete one) vanish. Our analysis passes through a linearization procedure within the rigorous framework of Γ-convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]