Pattern formation in reaction-diffusion systems in the presence of short-term memory

Abstract

We study reaction-diffusion systems beyond the Markovian approximation to take into account the effect of memory on the formation of spatio-temporal patterns. Using a non-Markovian Brusselator model as a paradigmatic example, we show how to use reductive perturbation to investigate the formation and stability of patterns. Focusing in detail on the Hopf instability and short-term memory, we derive the corresponding complex Ginzburg-Landau equation that governs the amplitude of the critical mode and we establish the explicit dependence of its parameters on the memory properties. Numerical solution of this memory dependent complex Ginzburg-Landau equation as well as direct numerical simulation of the non-Markovian Brusselator model illustrate that memory changes the properties of the spatio-temporal patterns. Our results indicate that going beyond the Markovian approximation might be necessary to study the formation of spatio-temporal patterns even in systems with short-term memory. At the same time, our work opens up a new window into the control of these patterns using memory.