Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Induction of Microstreaming by Nonspherical Bubble Oscillations in an Acoustic Levitation System
Published on: May 9, 2021
Arm splitting and backfiring of spiral waves in media displaying local mixed-mode oscillations
Qingyu Gao1, Lu Zhang, Qun Wang
1College of Chemical Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
The behavior of spiral waves is investigated in a model of reaction-diffusion media supporting local mixed-mode oscillations for a range of values of a control parameter. This local behavior is accompanied by the formation of nodes, at which the arms of the simple spiral waves begin to split. With further parameter changes, this nodal structure loses stability, becoming quite irregular, eventually evolving into turbulence, while the local dynamics increases in complexity. The breakup of the spiral waves arises from a backfiring instability of the nodes induced by the arm splitting. This process of spiral breakup in the presence of mixed-mode oscillations represents an alternative to previously described scenarios of instability of line defects and superspirals in media with period-doubling and quasiperiodic oscillations, respectively.
Related Concept Videos
IR Spectrum Peak Splitting: Symmetric vs Asymmetric Vibrations
Forced Oscillations
Modes of Standing Waves: II
For a tube open at one end and closed at the other filled with air, the modes are such that there is always an antinode at the open end and a node at the closed end.
Modes of Standing Waves - I
Standing Waves in a Cavity
¹H NMR Signal Multiplicity: Splitting Patterns

