Coupled and forced patterns in reaction–diffusion systems

Author(s):  
Irving R Epstein ◽  
Igal B Berenstein ◽  
Milos Dolnik ◽  
Vladimir K Vanag ◽  
Lingfa Yang ◽  
...  

Several reaction–diffusion systems that exhibit temporal periodicity when well mixed also display spatio-temporal pattern formation in a spatially distributed, unstirred configuration. These patterns can be travelling (e.g. spirals, concentric circles, plane waves) or stationary in space (Turing structures, standing waves). The behaviour of coupled and forced temporal oscillators has been well studied, but much less is known about the phenomenology of forced and coupled patterns. We present experimental results focusing primarily on coupled patterns in two chemical systems, the chlorine dioxide–iodine–malonic acid reaction and the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction. The observed behaviour can be simulated with simple chemically plausible models.

Author(s):  
Robert A. Van Gorder

The Turing and Benjamin–Feir instabilities are two of the primary instability mechanisms useful for studying the transition from homogeneous states to heterogeneous spatial or spatio-temporal states in reaction–diffusion systems. We consider the case when the underlying reaction–diffusion system is non-autonomous or has a base state which varies in time, as in this case standard approaches, which rely on temporal eigenvalues, break down. We are able to establish respective criteria for the onset of each instability using comparison principles, obtaining inequalities which involve the in general time-dependent model parameters and their time derivatives. In the autonomous limit where the base state is constant in time, our results exactly recover the respective Turing and Benjamin–Feir conditions known in the literature. Our results make the Turing and Benjamin–Feir analysis amenable for a wide collection of applications, and allow one to better understand instabilities emergent due to a variety of non-autonomous mechanisms, including time-varying diffusion coefficients, time-varying reaction rates, time-dependent transitions between reaction kinetics and base states which change in time (such as heteroclinic connections between unique steady states, or limit cycles), to name a few examples.


Author(s):  
Michael Sieber ◽  
Horst Malchow ◽  
Sergei V. Petrovskii

Ecological field data suggest that some species show periodic changes in abundance over time and in a specific spatial direction. Periodic travelling waves as solutions to reaction–diffusion equations have helped to identify possible scenarios, by which such spatio-temporal patterns may arise. In this paper, such solutions are tested for their robustness against an irregular temporal forcing, since most natural populations can be expected to be subject to erratic fluctuations imposed by the environment. It is found that small environmental noise is able to suppress periodic travelling waves in stochastic variants of oscillatory reaction–diffusion systems. Irregular spatio-temporal oscillations, however, appear to be more robust and persist under the same stochastic forcing.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Lecca ◽  
Adaoha E. C. Ihekwaba ◽  
Lorenzo Dematté ◽  
Corrado Priami

SummaryReaction-diffusion systems are mathematical models that describe how the concentrations of substances distributed in space change under the influence of local chemical reactions, and diffusion which causes the substances to spread out in space. The classical representation of a reaction-diffusion system is given by semi-linear parabolic partial differential equations, whose solution predicts how diffusion causes the concentration field to change with time. This change is proportional to the diffusion coefficient. If the solute moves in a homogeneous system in thermal equilibrium, the diffusion coefficients are constants that do not depend on the local concentration of solvent and solute. However, in nonhomogeneous and structured media the assumption of constant intracellular diffusion coefficient is not necessarily valid, and, consequently, the diffusion coefficient is a function of the local concentration of solvent and solutes. In this paper we propose a stochastic model of reaction-diffusion systems, in which the diffusion coefficients are function of the local concentration, viscosity and frictional forces. We then describe the software tool Redi (REaction-DIffusion simulator) which we have developed in order to implement this model into a Gillespie-like stochastic simulation algorithm. Finally, we show the ability of our model implemented in the Redi tool to reproduce the observed gradient of the bicoid protein in the Drosophila Melanogaster embryo. With Redi, we were able to simulate with an accuracy of 1% the experimental spatio-temporal dynamics of the bicoid protein, as recorded in time-lapse experiments obtained by direct measurements of transgenic bicoidenhanced green fluorescent protein.


2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (08) ◽  
pp. 2679-2691 ◽  
Author(s):  
JENS D. M. RADEMACHER ◽  
ARND SCHEEL

We classify generic instabilities of wave trains in reaction–diffusion systems on the real line as the wavenumber and system parameters are varied. We find three types of robust instabilities: Hopf with nonzero modulational wavenumber, sideband and spatio-temporal period-doubling. Near a fold, the only other robust instability mechanism, we show that all wave trains are necessarily unstable. We also discuss the special cases of homogeneous oscillations and reflection symmetric, stationary Turing patterns.


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