Antispiral waves as sources in oscillatory reaction-diffusion media

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • EM Nicola - , Max-Planck-Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (Author)
  • L Brusch - , Max-Planck-Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, National Institute of Applied Sciences of Toulouse (INSA) (Author)
  • M Bar - , Max-Planck-Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (Author)

Abstract

Spiral and antispiral waves are studied numerically in two examples of oscillatory reaction-diffusion media and analytically in the corresponding complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (CGLE). We argue that both these structures are sources of waves in oscillatory media, which are distinguished only by the sign of the phase velocity of the emitted waves. Using known analytical results in the CGLE, we obtain a criterion for the CGLE coefficients that predicts whether antispirals or spirals will occur in the corresponding reaction-diffusion systems. We apply this criterion to the FitzHugh-Nagumo and Brusselator models by deriving the CGLE near the Hopf bifurcations of the respective equations. Numerical simulations of the full reaction-diffusion equations confirm the validity of our simple criterion near the onset of oscillations. They also reveal that antispirals often occur near the onset and turn into spirals further away from it. The transition from antispirals to spirals is characterized by a divergence in the wavelength. A tentative interpretation of recent experimental observations of antispiral waves in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction in a microemulsion is given.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)14733-14740
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry B
Volume108
Issue number38
Publication statusPublished - 23 Sept 2004
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

Scopus 4944235995
ORCID /0000-0003-0137-5106/work/142244243

Keywords

Keywords

  • SPIRAL WAVES, AMPLITUDE EQUATIONS, PATTERN-FORMATION, PROPAGATION, SINKS