Quantum zero-point effects have been long proposed to explain a well-known discrepancy between the low-temperature flow stresses of body-centered cubic metals and corresponding atomistic models of plastic flow. Previous investigations on quantum effects relied on empirical interatomic potentials, which poorly reproduce dislocation energy landscapes compared to density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Here, we revisit this problem using DFT and machine-learning interatomic potentials (MLIPs). We show that while quantum effects do contribute to dislocation glide at low temperature, their magnitude is much lower than previously reported, and insufficient to reconcile atomistic predictions with experiments. Our results thus reopen a long-standing question and challenge for predictive atomistic modeling, on a fundamental property of crystals.

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• Plasticity
• Metals
• Density functional theory
• Molecular dynamics