Dynamical failure of Turing patterns

Department of Physics, Bar-Ilan University - Ramat-Gan 52900 Israel

Received: 14 September 2005
Accepted: 30 March 2006

Abstract

The emergence of stable disordered patterns in reactive systems on a spatially homogenous substrate is studied in the context of vegetation patterns in the semi-arid climatic zone. It is shown that reaction-diffusion systems that allow for Turing instability may exhibit heterogeneous “glassy” steady state with no characteristic wavelength if the diffusion rate associated with the slow reactant is very small. Upon decreasing the diffusion constant of the slow reactant three phases are identified: strong diffusion yields a stable homogenous phase, intermediate diffusion supports Turing (crystal like) patterns while in the slow-diffusion limit the glassy state is the generic stable solution. In this disordered phase the dynamics is of crucial importance, with strong differences between local and global initiation.