Symmetry-breaking Hopf bifurcation in anisotropic systems (Q1312531)

Symmetry-breaking Hopf bifurcation from a spatially uniform steady state of a spatially extended anisotropic system is considered. This work is motivated by the experimental observation of a Hopf bifurcation to oblique traveling rolls in electrohydrodynamic convection in planarly aligned nematic liquid crystals. Symmetry forces four traveling rolls to lose stability simultaneously. Four coupled complex ordinary differential equations describing the nonlinear interaction of the traveling rolls are analyzed using methods of equivariant bifurcation theory.