Temporal chaos versus spatial mixing in reaction-advection-diffusion systems
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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Evolution of Staircase Structures in Diffusive Convection
Published on: September 5, 2018
Arthur V Straube1, Markus Abel, Arkady Pikovsky
1Department of Physics, University of Potsdam, Am Neuen Palais 10, PF 601553, D-14415, Potsdam, Germany.
Abstract:
We develop a theory describing the transition to a spatially homogeneous regime in a mixing flow with a chaotic in time reaction. The transverse Lyapunov exponent governing the stability of the homogeneous state can be represented as a combination of Lyapunov exponents for spatial mixing and temporal chaos. This representation, being exact for time-independent flows and equal Pe clet numbers of different components, is demonstrated to work accurately for time-dependent flows and different Pe clet numbers.
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