Complex patterns in reaction-diffusion systems: A tale of two front instabilities

Two front instabilities in a reaction-diffusion system are shown to lead to the formation of complex patterns. The first is an instability to transverse modulations that drives the formation of labyrinthine patterns. The second is a nonequilibrium Ising-Bloch (NIB) bifurcation that renders a stationary planar front unstable and gives rise to a pair of counterpropagating fronts. Near the NIB bifurcation the relation of the front velocity to curvature is highly nonlinear and transitions between counterpropagating fronts become feasible. Nonuniformly curved fronts may undergo local front transitions that nucleate spiral-vortex pairs. These nucleation events provide the ingredient needed to initiate spot splitting and spiral turbulence. Similar spatiotemporal processes have been observed recently in the ferrocyanide-iodate-sulfite reaction.     

Hybrid model for chaotic front dynamics: from semiconductors to water tanks

We present a general method for studying front propagation in nonlinear systems with a global constraint in the language of hybrid tank models. The method is illustrated in the case of semiconductor superlattices, where the dynamics of the electron accumulation and depletion fronts shows complex spatiotemporal patterns, including chaos. We show that this behavior may be elegantly explained by a tank model, for which analytical results on the emergence of chaos are available. In particular, for the case of three tanks the bifurcation scenario is characterized by a modified version of the one-dimensional iterated tent map.     

终端含NMOS反相器传输线系统中的时空复杂行为分析

应用行波理论,建立了一个终端含N沟道金属氧化物半导体(N-channel metal oxide semiconductor, NMOS)反相器的传输线系统的非线性离散映射模型.对该模型进行仿真发现, 反射系数的变化可能导致系统出现时空分岔和时空混沌等复杂的时空行为, 并且初始分布对系统达到稳态后的时空行为有很大影响,零初始分布对应的时空图样比较规则, 而非零的初值分布则会导致沿线电压出现复杂的时空图样,分析表明这些时空复杂行为的产生 源于系统中传输线的无穷维本质和NMOS反相器的非线性伏安特性.     

X and Y waves in the spatiotemporal Kerr dynamics of a self-guided light beam

The nonlinear stage of development of the spatiotemporal instability of the monochromatic Townes beam in a medium with self-focusing nonlinearity and normal dispersion is studied by analytical and numerical means. Small perturbations to the self-guided light beam are found to grow into two giant, splitting Y pulses featuring shock fronts on opposite sides. Each shocking pulse amplifies a co-propagating X wave, or dispersion- and diffraction-free linear wave mode of the medium, with super-broad spectrum.     

Self-Action of Wave Beams Containing Shock Fronts

We briefly review the effects of nonlinear self-action of beams of strongly distorted waves containing steep shock fronts. The features of inertial self-actions of periodic sawtooth waves in quadratic nonlinear media without dispersion are discussed. These phenomena can be caused by an acoustic wind or thermal lens formed as a result of the nonlinear dissipation at the shock fronts. Instantaneous self-actions are analyzed on the examples of periodic trapezoidal waves, which are formed in cubic nonlinear media and contain alternating compression and rarefaction shocks, and a single-pulse signal containing a shock front. Mathematical models and solutions to the corresponding nonlinear equations are given. A qualitative comparison with optical self-action phenomena and with available experimental data is performed.     

Resonantly forced inhomogeneous reaction-diffusion systems

The dynamics of spatiotemporal patterns in oscillatory reaction-diffusion systems subject to periodic forcing with a spatially random forcing amplitude field are investigated. Quenched disorder is studied using the resonantly forced complex Ginzburg-Landau equation in the 3:1 resonance regime. Front roughening and spontaneous nucleation of target patterns are observed and characterized. Time dependent spatially varying forcing fields are studied in the 3:1 forced FitzHugh-Nagumo system. The periodic variation of the spatially random forcing amplitude breaks the symmetry among the three quasi-homogeneous states of the system, making the three types of fronts separating phases inequivalent. The resulting inequality in the front velocities leads to the formation of "compound fronts" with velocities lying between those of the individual component fronts, and "pulses" which are analogous structures arising from the combination of three fronts. Spiral wave dynamics is studied in systems with compound fronts. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics.     

Bifurcation to fully nonlinear synchronized structures in slowly varying media

The selection of fully nonlinear extended oscillating states is analyzed in the context of one-dimensional nonlinear evolution equations with slowly spatially varying coefficients on a doubly infinite domain. Two types of synchronized structures referred to as steep and soft global modes are shown to exist. Steep global modes are characterized by the presence of a sharp stationary front at a marginally absolutely unstable station and their frequency is determined by the corresponding linear absolute frequency, as in Dee–Langer propagating fronts. Soft global modes exhibit slowly varying amplitude and wave number over the entire domain and their frequency is determined by the application of a saddle point condition to the local nonlinear dispersion relation. The two selection criteria are compared and shown to be mutually exclusive. The onset of global instability first gives rise to a steep global mode via a saddle-node bifurcation as soon as local linear absolute instability is reached somewhere in the medium. As a result, such self-sustained structures may be observed while the medium is still globally stable in a strictly linear approximation. Soft global modes only occur further above global onset and for sufficiently weak advection. The entire bifurcation scenario and state diagram are described in terms of three characteristic control parameters. The complete spatial structure of nonlinear global modes is analytically obtained in the framework of WKBJ approximations.     

Spatiotemporal communication with synchronized optical chaos

We propose a model system that allows communication of spatiotemporal information using an optical chaotic carrier waveform. The system is based on broad-area nonlinear optical ring cavities, which exhibit spatiotemporal chaos in a wide parameter range. Message recovery is possible through chaotic synchronization between transmitter and receiver. Numerical simulations demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed scheme, and the benefit of the parallelism of information transfer with optical wave fronts.     

Bifurcations in a System of Interacting Fronts

We show that the bifurcation scenario in a high-dimensional system with interacting moving fronts can be related to the universal U-sequence which is known from the symbolic analysis of iterated one-dimensional maps. This connection is corroborated for a model of a semiconductor superlattice, which describes the complex dynamics of electron accumulation and depletion fronts. By a suitable Poincaré section we reduce the dynamics to a low-dimensional iterated map, for which in the most elementary case the bifurcation points can be determined analytically.     

Irregular wakes in reaction-diffusion waves

Reaction-diffusion equations have proved to be highly successful models for a wide range of biological and chemical systems, but chaotic solutions have been very rarely documented. We present a new mechanism for generating apparently chaotic spatiotemporal irregularity in such systems, by analysing in detail the bifurcation structure of a particular set of reaction-diffusion equations on an infinite one-dimensional domain, with particular initial conditions. We show that possible solutions include travelling fronts which leave behind either regular or irregular spatiotemporal oscillations. Using a combination of analytical and numerical analysis, we show that the irregular behaviour arises from the instability of oscillations induced by the passage of the front. Finally, we discuss the generality of this mechanism as a way in which spatiotemporal irregularities can arise naturally in reaction-diffusion systems.     

Exponential asymptotics of localised patterns and snaking bifurcation diagrams

Localised patterns emerging from a subcritical modulation instability are analysed by carrying the multiple-scales analysis beyond all orders. The model studied is the Swift-Hohenberg equation of nonlinear optics, which is equivalent to the classical Swift-Hohenberg equation with a quadratic and a cubic nonlinearity. Applying the asymptotic technique away from the Maxwell point first, it is shown how exponentially small terms determine the phase of the fast spatial oscillation with respect to their slow -type amplitude. In the vicinity of the Maxwell point, the beyond-all-orders calculation yields the “pinning range” of parameters where stable stationary fronts connect the homogeneous and periodic states. The full bifurcation diagram for localised patterns is then computed analytically, including snake and ladder bifurcation curves. This last step requires the matching of the periodic oscillation in the middle of a localised pattern both with an up- and a down-front. To this end, a third, super-slow spatial scale needs to be introduced, in which fronts appear as boundary layers. In addition, the location of the Maxwell point and the oscillation wave number of localised patterns are required to fourth-order accuracy in the oscillation amplitude.     

Convective and absolute Eckhaus instability leading to modulated waves in a finite box

We report an experimental study of the secondary modulational instability of a one-dimensional nonlinear traveling wave in a long bounded channel. Two qualitatively different instability regimes involving fronts of spatiotemporal defects are linked to the convective and absolute nature of the instability. Both transitions appear to be subcritical. The spatiotemporal defects control the global mode structure.     

Thirring combo-solitons with cubic nonlinearity and spatio-temporal dispersion

Abstract

The vector-coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which can be applied to describe the propagation of Thirring optical solitons in birefringent ?bers with Kerr law nonlinearity, detuning, intermodal dispersion and spatiotemporal dispersion, has been studied analytically. By means of the complex envelope function ansatz, exact Thirring bright-dark combosolitons are reported, and the properties of these solitons are discussed.     

Onset of turbulence from the receptivity stage of fluid flows

The traditional viewpoint of fluid flow considers the transition to turbulence to occur by the secondary and nonlinear instability of wave packets, which have been created experimentally by localized harmonic excitation. The boundary layer has been shown theoretically to support spatiotemporal growing wave fronts by Sengupta, Rao, and Venkatasubbaiah [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 224504 (2006)] by a linear mechanism, which is shown here to grow continuously, causing the transition to turbulence. Here, we track spatiotemporal wave fronts to a nonlinear turbulent state by solving the full 2D Navier-Stokes equation, without any limiting assumptions. Thus, this is the only demonstration of deterministic disturbances evolving from a receptivity stage to the full turbulent flow. This is despite the prevalent competing conjectures of the event being three-dimensional and/or stochastic in nature.     

Front reversals, wave traps, and twisted spirals in periodically forced oscillatory media

A new kind of nonlinear nonequilibrium patterns--twisted spiral waves--is predicted for periodically forced oscillatory reaction-diffusion media. We show, furthermore, that, in such media, spatial regions with modified local properties may act as traps where propagating waves can be stored and released in a controlled way. Underlying both phenomena is the effect of the wavelength-dependent propagation reversal of traveling phase fronts, always possible when homogeneous oscillations are modulationally stable without forcing. The analysis is performed using as a model the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation, applicable for reaction-diffusion systems in the vicinity of a supercritical Hopf bifurcation.     

Emergence of spatiotemporal chaos arising from far-field breakup of spiral waves in the plankton ecological systems

It has been reported that the minimal spatially extended phytoplankton--zooplankton system exhibits both temporal regular/chaotic behaviour, and spatiotemporal chaos in a patchy environment. As a further investigation by means of computer simulations and theoretical analysis, in this paper we observe that the spiral waves may exist and the spatiotemporal chaos emerge when the parameters are within the mixed Turing--Hopf bifurcation region, which arises from the far-field breakup of the spiral waves over a large range of diffusion coefficients of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Moreover, the spatiotemporal chaos arising from the far-field breakup of spiral waves does not gradually invade the whole space of that region. Our results are confirmed by nonlinear bifurcation of wave trains. We also discuss ecological implications of these spatially structured patterns.     

Spatiotemporal propagation characteristics based on the exact solutions of the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation by intensity moments

Based on the exact solutions of the (3 + 1)-dimensional ((3 + 1)D) generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation (GNLSE), we analyze the spatiotemporal propagation characteristics by intensity moments when a laser propagates in an inhomogeneous nonlinear medium. The different order intensity moment can describe the characteristics of a laser, and in the paper, the beam width (BW), the pulse width (PW), the skewness and the kurtosis parameter are calculated. The spatiotemporal propagation stability of the exact solutions is analyzed in detail by the second-order intensity moment. We find that when the diffraction and dispersion coefficients are the identical distributed functions, the BW and PW of the exact solutions are constants or vary periodically during nonlinear propagation. So, the spatiotemporal propagation of the exact solutions is stable. When the diffraction and dispersion coefficients are other coefficients, the BW and PW of the exact solutions vary irregularly due to the effect of a chirp. Thus the spatiotemporal propagation of the exact solutions is unstable. The results are helpful to the extendable investigation of nonlinear propagation and control of a laser pulse.     

Asymptotics of large bound states of localized structures

We analyze stationary fronts connecting uniform and periodic states emerging from a pattern-forming instability. The size of the resulting periodic domains cannot be predicted with weakly nonlinear methods. We show that what determine this size are exponentially small (but exponentially growing in space) terms. These can only be computed by going beyond all orders of the usual multiple-scale expansion. We apply the method to the Swift-Hohenberg equation and derive analytically a snaking bifurcation curve. At each fold of this bifurcation curve, a new pair of peaks is added to the periodic domain, which can thus be seen as a bound state of localized structures. Such scenarios have been reported with optical localized structures in nonlinear cavities and localized buckling.     

二维正弦离散映射的分岔和吸引子

由一个正弦映射和一个三次方映射通过非线性耦合,构成一个新的二维正弦离散映射. 基于此二维正弦离散映射得到系统的不动点以及相应的特征值,分析了系统的稳定性,研究了系统的复杂非线性动力学行为及其吸引子的演变过程. 研究结果表明：此二维正弦离散映射中存在复杂的对称性破缺分岔、Hopf分岔、倍周期分岔和周期振荡快慢效应等非线性物理现象. 进一步根据控制变量变化时系统的分岔图、Lyapunov指数图和相轨迹图分析了系统的分岔模式共存、快慢周期振荡及其吸引子的演变过程,通过数值仿真验证了理论分析的正确性. 关键词： 正弦离散映射 对称性破缺分岔 Hopf分岔 吸引子     

Evolution of the exact spatiotemporal periodic wave and soliton solutions of the (3 + 1)-dimensional generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation with distributed coefficients

In this paper the spatiotemporal evolution of the periodic wave is investigated analytically when the laser passes through the inhomogeneous nonlinear medium. Firstly, the (3 + 1)-dimensional generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation with distributed coefficients is solved analytically by an improved homogeneous balance principle and F-expansion technique. A number of exact periodic traveling wave and spatiotemporal soliton solutions are obtained. Then, their propagation characteristics are analyzed in detail. It is found that the evolutions of propagation of spatiotemporal soliton and periodic wave solutions are regular when the diffraction and dispersion coefficients are the identical distributed coefficients, but the evolutions of propagation of these solutions are irregular with other coefficients.