Editorial to Homoclinic snaking at 21: in memory of Patrick Woods

This editorial serves as an extended introduction to the Special Issue. It gives the context to homoclinic snaking, especially the contribution of Patrick Woods. A very brief summary of more recent developments serves as a motivation to each paper that follows.

Curvature effects and radial homoclinic snaking

In this work, we revisit some general results on the dynamics of circular fronts between homogeneous states and the formation of localized structures in two dimensions (2D). We show how the bifurcation diagram of axisymmetric structures localized in radius fits within the framework of collapsed homoclinic snaking. In 2D, owing to curvature effects, the collapse of the snaking structure follows a different scaling that is determined by the so-called nucleation radius. Moreover, in the case of fronts between two symmetry-related states, the precise point in parameter space to which radial snaking collapses is not a ‘Maxwell’ point but is determined by the curvature-driven dynamics only. In this case, the snaking collapses to a ‘zero surface tension’ point. Near this point, the breaking of symmetry between the homogeneous states tilts the snaking diagram. A different scaling law is found for the collapse of the snaking curve in each case. Curvature effects on axisymmetric localized states with internal structure are also discussed, as are cellular structures separated from a homogeneous state by a circular front. While some of these results are well understood in terms of curvature-driven dynamics and front interactions, a proper mathematical description in terms of homoclinic trajectories in a radial spatial dynamics description is lacking.

Dynamics of spatially localized states in transitional plane Couette flow

Unsteady spatially localized states such as puffs, slugs or spots play an important role in transition to turbulence. In plane Couette flow, steady versions of these states are found on two intertwined solution branches describing homoclinic snaking (Schneider et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 104, 2010, 104501). These branches can be used to generate a number of spatially localized initial conditions whose transition can be investigated. From the low Reynolds numbers where homoclinic snaking is first observed ($Re<175$) to transitional ones ($Re\approx 325$), these spatially localized states traverse various regimes where their relaminarization time and dynamics are affected by the dynamical structure of phase space. These regimes are reported and characterized in this paper for a $4\unicode[STIX]{x03C0}$-periodic domain in the streamwise direction as a function of the two remaining variables: the Reynolds number and the width of the localized pattern. Close to the snaking, localized states are attracted by spatially localized periodic orbits before relaminarizing. At larger values of the Reynolds number, the flow enters a chaotic transient of variable duration before relaminarizing. Very long chaotic transients ($t>10^{4}$) can be observed without difficulty for relatively low values of the Reynolds number ($Re\approx 250$).

Homoclinic snaking in plane Couette flow: bending, skewing and finite-size effects

Invariant solutions of shear flows have recently been extended from spatially periodic solutions in minimal flow units to spatially localized solutions on extended domains. One set of spanwise-localized solutions of plane Couette flow exhibits homoclinic snaking, a process by which steady-state solutions grow additional structure smoothly at their fronts when continued parametrically. Homoclinic snaking is well understood mathematically in the context of the one-dimensional Swift–Hohenberg equation. Consequently, the snaking solutions of plane Couette flow form a promising connection between the largely phenomenological study of laminar–turbulent patterns in viscous shear flows and the mathematically well-developed field of pattern-formation theory. In this paper we present a numerical study of the snaking solutions of plane Couette flow, generalizing beyond the fixed streamwise wavelength of previous studies. We find a number of new solution features, including bending, skewing and finite-size effects. We establish the parameter regions over which snaking occurs and show that the finite-size effects of the travelling wave solution are due to a coupling between its fronts and interior that results from its shift-reflect symmetry. A new winding solution of plane Couette flow is derived from a strongly skewed localized equilibrium.

Homoclinic snaking near the surface instability of a polarisable fluid

We report on localised patches of cellular hexagons observed on the surface of a magnetic fluid in a vertical magnetic field. These patches are spontaneously generated by jumping into the neighbourhood of the unstable branch of the domain-covering hexagons of the Rosensweig instability upon which the patches equilibrate and stabilise. They are found to coexist in intervals of the applied magnetic field strength parameter around this branch. We formulate a general energy functional for the system and a corresponding Hamiltonian that provide a pattern selection principle allowing us to compute Maxwell points (where the energy of a single hexagon cell lies in the same Hamiltonian level set as the flat state) for general magnetic permeabilities. Using numerical continuation techniques, we investigate the existence of localised hexagons in the Young–Laplace equation coupled to the Maxwell equations. We find that cellular hexagons possess a Maxwell point, providing an energetic explanation for the multitude of measured hexagon patches. Furthermore, it is found that planar hexagon fronts and hexagon patches undergo homoclinic snaking, corroborating the experimentally detected intervals. Besides making a contribution to the specific area of ferrofluids, our work paves the ground for a deeper understanding of homoclinic snaking of two-dimensional localised patches of cellular patterns in many physical systems.