Complex temporal and spatial patterns in nonequilibrium systems

Technical Report · Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5053202· OSTI ID:5053202

Swinney, H L

Dynamical systems methods are being developed and used to characterize the formation and evolution of temporal and spatial patterns in systems maintained far from equilibrium. In particular, experiments and analyses are considering electrodeposition of fractal metallic clusters, pattern formation in reaction-diffusion systems, and the primary instabilities of some fluid flows. Novel reactors have been developed to search for chemical patterns (spatial variations in the chemical composition), and sustained patterns have been found in several different one- and two-dimensional geometries. Bifurcations in these patterns are studied by varying control parameters, e.g., the concentrations of the feed chemicals or the temperature. The observed two-dimensional chemical patterns range from the stationary patterns, similar to those predicted by Turing in 1952 but not observed until 1990, to chemical turbulence, which is characterized by large numbers of defects and a rapid decay of spatial correlations. These provide general insights into the formation of spatiotemporal patterns in nonequilibrium systems.

• Research Organization: Texas Univ., Austin, TX (United States). Dept. of Physics
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG05-88ER13821
• OSTI ID: 5053202
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/13821-5; ON: DE92002407
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
PATTERN RECOGNITION
FLUID FLOW
DIFFUSION
FRACTALS
INSTABILITY
PROGRESS REPORT
RANDOMNESS
DOCUMENT TYPES
KINETICS
REACTION KINETICS
400201* - Chemical & Physicochemical Properties
640410 - Fluid Physics- General Fluid Dynamics