Scattering of traveling spots in dissipative systems

One of the fundamental questions for self-organization in pattern formation is how spatial periodic structure is spontaneously formed starting from a localized fluctuation. It is known in dissipative systems that splitting dynamics is one of the driving forces to create many particle-like patterns from a single seed. On the way to final state there occur many collisions among them and its scattering manner is crucial to predict whether periodic structure is realized or not. We focus on the colliding dynamics of traveling spots arising in a three-component system and study how the transition of scattering dynamics is brought about. It has been clarified that hidden unstable patterns called "scattors" and their stable and unstable manifolds direct the traffic flow of orbits before and after collisions. The collision process in general can be decomposed into several steps and each step is controlled by such a scattor, in other words, a network among scattors forms the backbone for scattering dynamics. A variety of input-output relations comes from the complexity of the network as well as high Morse indices of the scattor. The change of transition manners is caused by the switching of the network from one structure to another, and such a change is caused by the singularities of scattors. We illustrate a typical example of the change of transition caused by the destabilization of the scattor. A new instability of the scattor brings a new destination for the orbit resulting in a new input-output relation, for instance, Hopf instability for the scattor of peanut type brings an annihilation.     

Unstable periodic solution controlling collision of localized convection cells in binary fluid mixture

We study the collision processes of spatially localized convection cells (pulses) in a binary fluid mixture by the extended complex Ginzburg-Landau equations. Both counter- and co-propagating pulse collisions are examined numerically. For counter-propagating pulse collision, we found a special class of unstable time-periodic solutions that play a critical role in determining the output after collision. The solution profile right after collision becomes close to such an unstable pattern and then evolves along one of the unstable manifolds before reaching a final destination. The origin of such a class of unstable solutions, called scattors, can be traced back to two-peak bound states which are stable in an appropriate parameter regime. They are destabilized, as the parameter is varied, and become scattors which play the role of separators of different dynamic regimes. Delayed feedback control is useful to detect them. Also, there is another regime where the origin of the scattors is different from that of the above case. For co-propagating pulse collision, it is revealed that the result of pulse collision depends on the phase difference between pulses. Moreover, we found that a coalescent pulse keeps a profile of two-peak bound state, which is not observed in the case of counter-propagating pulse collision. Complicated collision dynamics become transparent to some extent from the viewpoint of those unstable objects.     

Spinodal decomposition of an ABv model alloy: Patterns at unstable surfaces

We develop mean-field kinetic equations for a lattice gas model of a binary alloy with vacancies (ABv model) in which diffusion takes place by a vacancy mechanism. These equations are applied to the study of phase separation of finite portions of an unstable mixture immersed in a stable vapor. Due to a larger mobility of surface atoms, the most unstable modes of spinodal decomposition are localized at the vapor-mixture interface. Simulations show checkerboard-like structures at the surface or surface-directed spinodal waves. We determine the growth rates of bulk and surface modes by a linear stability analysis and deduce the relation between the parameters of the model and the structure and length scale of the surface patterns. The thickness of the surface patterns is related to the concentration fluctuations in the initial state. Received 28 October 1998     

反应扩散系统中时空斑图研究

时空斑图广泛地存在于反应扩散系统中,在延展的布鲁塞尔振子模型中,一维的时空斑图已经被研究过.本文中,我们对布鲁塞尔振子模型进行线性稳定性分析,模拟出两维的时空斑图,进一步阐明斑图形成的机制,形成斑图的机制是由于霍普夫失稳、短波失稳和图灵失稳以及它们之间的相互作用.当系统处于非平衡状态下,布鲁塞尔振子模型可以得到有序的时空斑图.?     

Bifurcations of mixed-mode oscillations in a stellate cell model

Experimental recordings of the membrane potential of stellate cells within the entorhinal cortex show a transition from subthreshold oscillations (STOs) via mixed-mode oscillations (MMOs) to relaxation oscillations under increased injection of depolarizing current. Acker et al. introduced a 7D conductance based model which reproduces many features of the oscillatory patterns observed in these experiments. For the first time, we present a comprehensive bifurcation analysis of this model by using the software package AUTO. In particular, we calculate the stable MMO branches within the bifurcation diagram of this model, as well as other MMO patterns which are unstable. We then use geometric singular perturbation theory to demonstrate how the bifurcations are governed by a 3D reduced model introduced by Rotstein et al. We extend their analysis to explain all observed MMO patterns within the bifurcation diagram. A key role in this bifurcation analysis is played by a novel homoclinic bifurcation structure connecting to a saddle equilibrium on the unstable branch of the corresponding critical manifold. This type of homoclinic connection is possible due to canards of folded node (folded saddle-node) type.     

Theory of ocular dominance pattern formation

We investigate a general and analytically tractable model for the activity-dependent formation of neuronal connectivity patterns. Previous models are contained as limiting cases. As an important example we analyze the formation of ocular dominance patterns in the visual cortex. A linear stability analysis reveals that the model undergoes a Turing-type instability as a function of interaction range and receptive field size. The phase transitions is of second order. After the linear instability the patterns may reorganize which we analyze in terms of a potential for the dynamics. Our analysis demonstrates that the experimentally observed dependency of ocular dominance patterns on interocular correlations of visual experience during development can emerge according to two generic scenarios: either the system is driven through the phase transition during development thereby selecting and stabilizing the first unstable mode or a primary pattern reorganizes towards larger wavelength according their lower energy. Experimentally observing the time course of ocular dominance pattern formation will decide which scenario is realized in the brain.     

Giant improvement of time-delayed feedback control by spatio-temporal filtering

Control of spatio-temporal chaos by the time-delay autosynchronization method is improved by several orders of magnitude. Unstable time periodic patterns are efficiently stabilized if one employs filters and couplings which originate from the Floquet eigenvalue problem of the unstable orbit. We illustrate our scheme by an application to a globally coupled reaction-diffusion model which describes charge transport in semiconductor devices.     

Spatial periodic forcing can displace patterns it is intended to control

Spatial periodic forcing of pattern-forming systems is an important, but lightly studied, method of controlling patterns. It can be used to control the amplitude and wave number of one-dimensional periodic patterns, to stabilize unstable patterns, and to induce them below instability onset. We show that, although in one spatial dimension the forcing acts to reinforce the patterns, in two dimensions it acts to destabilize or displace them by inducing two-dimensional rectangular and oblique patterns.     

Dynamical system approach to phyllotaxis

This paper presents a bifurcation study of a model widely used to discuss phyllotactic patterns, i.e., leaf arrangements. Although stable patterns can be easily obtained by numerical simulations, a stability or bifurcation analysis is hindered by the fact that the model is defined by an algorithm and not a dynamical system, mainly because new active elements are added at each step, and thus the dimension of the "natural" phase space is not conserved. Here a construction is presented by which a well defined dynamical system can be obtained, and a bifurcation analysis can be carried out. Stable and unstable patterns are found by an analytical relation, in which the roles of different growth mechanisms determining the shape is clarified. Then bifurcations are studied, especially anomalous scenarios due to discontinuities embedded in the original model. Finally, an explicit formula for evaluation of the Jacobian, and thus the eigenvalues, is given. It is likely that problems of the above type often arise in biology, and especially in morphogenesis, where growing systems are modeled.     

Soliton Lattice and Gas in Passive Fiber-Ring Resonators

We consider multisoliton patterns in the model of a synchronously pumped fiber-loop resonator. An essential difference of this system from its long-line counterpart is that, due to the finite length, dynamical regimes may be observed that would be unstable in the infinitely long line. For the case when the effective instability gain, produced by competition of the modulational instability (MI) of the flat background and losses, is small, we have consistently derived a special form of the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation for a perturbation above the continuous wave (cw) background. It predicts bound states of pulses with a uniquely determined ratio of the pulse width to the separation between them. Direct numerical simulations have produced regular soliton lattices at small values of the feeding pulse power, and irregular patterns at larger powers. Evidence for a phase transition between the lattice and gas phases in the model is found numerically. At low power, the width-to-sep aration ratio as found numerically proves to be quite close to the analytically predicted value. We also compare our results with recently published experimental observations of MI-stimulated formation of a pulse array in a mode-locked fiber laser.     

Heteroclinic behavior in rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection

We investigate numerically the appearance of heteroclinic behavior in a three-dimensional, buoyancy-driven fluid layer with stress-free top and bottom boundaries, a square horizontal periodicity with a small aspect ratio, and rotation at low to moderate rates about a vertical axis. The Prandtl number is 6.8. If the rotation is not too slow, the skewed-varicose instability leads from stationary rolls to a stationary mixed-mode solution, which in turn loses stability to a heteroclinic cycle formed by unstable roll states and connections between them. The unstable eigenvectors of these roll states are also of the skewed-varicose or mixed-mode type and in some parameter regions skewed-varicose like shearing oscillations as well as square patterns are involved in the cycle. Always present weak noise leads to irregular horizontal translations of the convection pattern and makes the dynamics chaotic, which is verified by calculating Lyapunov exponents. In the nonrotating case, the primary rolls lose, depending on the aspect ratio, stability to traveling waves or a stationary square pattern. We also study the symmetries of the solutions at the intermittent fixed points in the heteroclinic cycle. Received 10 June 1999     

双层耦合非对称反应扩散系统中的超点阵斑图

通过线性耦合Brusselator模型和Lengyel-Epstein模型,数值研究了双层耦合非对称反应扩散系统中图灵模之间的相互作用以及斑图的形成机理.模拟结果表明,合适的波数比以及相同的对称性是两个图灵模之间达到空间共振的必要条件,而耦合强度则直接影响了图灵斑图的振幅大小.为了保证对称性相同,两个图灵模的本征值高度要位于一定的范围内.只有失稳模为长波模时,才能对另一个图灵模产生调制作用,并形成多尺度时空斑图.随着波数比的增加,短波模子系统依次经历黑眼斑图、白眼斑图以及时序振荡六边形斑图的转变.研究表明失稳图灵模与处于短波不稳定区域的高阶谐波模之间的共振是产生时序振荡六边形的主要原因.     

Generation and amplification of magnetic islands by drift interchange turbulence

We investigate the multiscale nonlinear dynamics of a linearly stable or unstable tearing mode with small-scale interchange turbulence using 2D MHD numerical simulations. For a stable tearing mode, the nonlinear beating of the fastest growing small-scale interchange modes drives a magnetic island with an enhanced growth rate to a saturated size that is proportional to the turbulence generated anomalous diffusion. For a linearly unstable tearing mode the island saturation size scales inversely as one-fourth power of the linear tearing growth rate in accordance with weak turbulence theory predictions. Turbulence is also seen to introduce significant modifications in the flow patterns surrounding the magnetic island.     

Polymer cover induced self-excited vibrations of nipped rolls

As a result of increased speeds, the dynamic instability of rotatory machines including polymer-covered nipped rolls has grown. The instability originates from the viscoelastic behavior of the covers and leads to strong barring vibrations, which limit the operating speed of many machines. In this work, the self-excited vibrations of a nipped two-roll system with a polymer cover on the other roll are investigated using an analytical model developed for the roll system. The viscoelastic properties of the cover are accounted for by the standard linear solid (SLS) model. The numerical results display wave-like roll cover deformation patterns, separate instability regions of the system and moving wave patterns near the resonances. The roll system is unstable when the excitation frequency of the polygonal cover deformation lies in the vicinity of the higher eigenfrequency of the system. By using a speed-up ramp, it is shown that at high speeds the instability regions may become too wide and unstable to be crossed in industrial machines. An experiment was carried out, and a good agreement is found between the numerical and experimental results.     

Nonlinear competition between asters and stripes in filament-motor systems

A model for polar filaments interacting via molecular motor complexes is investigated which exhibits bifurcations to spatial patterns. It is shown that the homogeneous distribution of filaments, such as actin or microtubules, may become either unstable with respect to an orientational instability of a finite wave number or with respect to modulations of the filament density, where long-wavelength modes are amplified as well. Above threshold nonlinear interactions select either stripe patterns or periodic asters. The existence and stability ranges of each pattern close to threshold are predicted in terms of a weakly nonlinear perturbation analysis, which is confirmed by numerical simulations of the basic model equations. The two relevant parameters determining the bifurcation scenario of the model can be related to the concentrations of the active molecular motors and of the filaments, respectively, which both could be easily regulated by the cell.     

Noise induced patterning in reaction-diffusion systems with non-Fickian diffusion

We have studied the entropy-driven mechanism leading to stationary patterns formation in stochastic systems with local dynamics and non-Fickian diffusion. It is shown that a multiplicative noise fulfilling a fluctuation-dissipation relation is able to induce and sustain stationary structures. It was found that at small and large noise intensities the system is characterized by unstable homogeneous states. At intermediate values of the noise intensity three types of patterns are possible: nucleation, spinodal decomposition and stripes with liner defects (dislocations). Our analytical investigations are verified by computer simulations.     

A dynamical system approach to Bianchi III cosmology for Hu–Sawicki type <Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>) gravity

The cosmological dynamics of spatially homogeneous but anisotropic Bianchi type-III space-time is investigated in presence of a perfect fluid within the framework of Hu–Sawicki model. We use the dynamical system approach to perform a detailed analysis of the cosmological behaviour of this model for the model parameters \(n=1, c_1=1\), determining all the fixed points, their stability and corresponding cosmological evolution. We have found stable fixed points with de Sitter solution along with unstable radiation like fixed points. We have identified a matter like point which act like an unstable spiral and when the initial conditions of a trajectory are very close to this point, it stabilizes at a stable accelerating point. Thus, in this model, the universe can naturally approach to a phase of accelerated expansion following a radiation or a matter dominated phase. It is also found that the isotropisation of this model is affected by the spatial curvature and that all the isotropic fixed points are found to be spatially flat.     

Solution of selfconsistent equations for superconducting glasses: a new universal ratio,critical exponent β=1, and behaviour in magnetic fields

A new two step oxidation model is proposed that describes the mechanism of internal oxidation of the non-noble impurities antimony and indium in silver. We have found that internal oxidation at 550 K leads to the formation of isolated SbO₂ or InO₂ molecules, respectively. The commonly used model of Wagner treats the oxidation as a one step process, which means that in the case of antimony and indium two oxygen atoms must be trapped effectively in one step. Assuming a trapping radius of one lattice constant this model predicts an oxidation front that is much steeper than observed experimentally. The two step oxidation model assumes that first one oxygen atom is trapped at the non-oxidized impurity to form a relatively unstable complex. If within the lifetime of this complex a second oxygen atom is trapped, a stable and completely oxidized complex is formed in the silver matrix. The two step oxidation model predicts the shape of the oxidation front during internal oxidation at 550 K of antimony or indium in silver single crystals correctly, when a dissociation energy of 0.60(5) eV for the unstable complex is taken.     

Unstable periodic orbits and noise in chaos computing

Different methods to utilize the rich library of patterns and behaviors of a chaotic system have been proposed for doing computation or communication. Since a chaotic system is intrinsically unstable and its nearby orbits diverge exponentially from each other, special attention needs to be paid to the robustness against noise of chaos-based approaches to computation. In this paper unstable periodic orbits, which form the skeleton of any chaotic system, are employed to build a model for the chaotic system to measure the sensitivity of each orbit to noise, and to select the orbits whose symbolic representations are relatively robust against the existence of noise. Furthermore, since unstable periodic orbits are extractable from time series, periodic orbit-based models can be extracted from time series too. Chaos computing can be and has been implemented on different platforms, including biological systems. In biology noise is always present; as a result having a clear model for the effects of noise on any given biological implementation has profound importance. Also, since in biology it is hard to obtain exact dynamical equations of the system under study, the time series techniques we introduce here are of critical importance.