Bifurcation of a helical wave from a traveling wave (Q1764354)

Spin mode instability have been observed in solid-state combustion reactions and in propagating fronts of polymerization among others, that is, when some conditions are changed, a planar traveling wave may lose its stability and there appears a planar wave or a helical wave propagating in the form of spiral encircling the cylindrical sample with several reaction spots. In the present article, the authors study the following system of reaction-diffusion equations: \[ \frac{\partial u}{\partial t}=\Delta u+\alpha \beta vf(u),\quad \frac{\partial v}{\partial t}=d\Delta v-\alpha vf(u) \quad (t>0,x\in \Omega), \] where \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\) are positive constants, \(f(u)\) satisfies \[ f(u)=f(u;u_{ig})=0\quad (u<u_{ig}),\quad f(u)=f(u;u_{ig})=1\quad (u>u_{ig}), \] \(0<u_{ig}<1\) is the non-dimensional ignition temperature, \(d\geq 0\). The boundary conditions as \(| x| \to\infty\) are imposed: \[ \lim\limits_{x\to -\infty}u(t,x)=u_-,\quad \lim\limits_{x\to \infty}u(t,x)=u_+, \] \[ \lim\limits_{x\to -\infty}v(t,x)=0,\quad \lim\limits_{x\to \infty}v(t,x)=v_+, \] where \(u_+\) and \(u_-=u_++\beta v_+\) respectively correspond to the temperature before and after synthesis (\(u_+<u_{ig}<u_-\)), and \(v_+\) means the initial concentration of reactants. By mathematical analysis with the above system, they clarify that a stable helical wave can bifurcate directly from a planar traveling wave and that helical waves with different numbers of reaction spots can coexist stably.