On the nature of attractive dislocation crossed states

Attractive non-coplanar dislocations that cannot react to form junctions can, nevertheless, form crossed states, i.e., junctions of null length. Such configurations have recently been described by Wickham and co-workers as an output of numerical simulations. The physical origin of the crossed states is cleared out and their conditions of occurrence are calculated within a simplified elastic frame. The results are further discussed by comparison with mesoscopic simulations of intersecting dislocations in fcc and bcc crystals.