Dynamics of Inhomogeneous Chains of Coupled Quadratic Maps

A new effective local analysis method is elaborated for coupled map dynamics. In contrast to the previously suggested methods, it allows visually investigating the evolution of synchronization and complex-behavior domains for a distributed medium described by a set of maps. The efficiency of the method is demonstrated with examples of ring and flow models of diffusively coupled quadratic maps. An analysis of a ring chain in the presence of space defects reveals some new global-behavior phenomena.