Weak pinning of the charge-density wave revisited

An overview of numerical simulation and experimental works that contradict the Fukuyama-Lee-Rice (FLR) theory of weak pinning is presented. Within an alternative, analytic approach, we find a salomonic answer to the problem of three-dimensional weak pinning: short- and large-scale phase deformations coexist, but their role is different. The present results provide a unified picture of the CDW weakly pinned by impurities, and explain puzzling aspects of numerical simulations, disagreement between previous theories and experiments, e. g. in the case of NbSe3, and the white line effect.