Wave-Induced Chemical Chaos

Abstract

Spatiotemporal chaos in a two-variable, cubic autocatalator model with equal diffusivities of the species is described. The interplay between an unstable homogeneous state and propagating fronts which return the system to that state gives rise to a reinjection mechanism for chaotic behavior. Extreme sensitivity to initial conditions in both space and time and a rapid falloff of the spatial correlation function are exhibited in the chaotic regime.