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Two-dimensional defects in amorphous materials

We present a new definition of defects which is based on a Riemannian formulation of incompatible elasticity. Defects are viewed as local deviations of the material's reference metric field, $\bar{\mathfrak{g}}$, from a Euclidian metric. This definition allows the description of defects in amorphous materials and the formulation of the elastic problem, using a single field, $\bar{\mathfrak{g}}$. We provide a multipole expansion of reference metrics that represent a large family of two-dimensional (2D) localized defects. The case of a dipole, which corresponds to an edge dislocation is studied analytically, experimentally and numerically. The quadrupole term, which is studied analytically, as well as higher multipoles of curvature carry local deformations. These multipoles are good candidates for fundamental strain carrying entities in plasticity theories of amorphous materials and for a continuous modeling of recently developed meta-materials.