A waiting time phenomenon for modulations of pattern in reaction-diffusion systems (Q662377)

It is known that the real Ginzburg-Landau (GLE) equation is an asymptotic normal form of reaction-diffusion systems. In turn, the phase-diffusion equation may describe, in the asymptotic approximation, the slow evolution of the local wave number close to the critical point corresponding to the border between stable and unstable solutions, as defined by the Eckhaus stability criterion. In particular, a relevant limit form of the one-dimensional phase-diffusion evolution for the wave number, \(p(x,t)\), is the same nonlinear equation which describes the diffusion in porous media: \[ \partial_tp = \partial^2_x(p^2). \] The latter equation gives rise to the known waiting-time effect: if the initial condition includes a half-space where the \(p(x,t=0)=0\), the evolution of the system will start to fill out the empty area only after some finite (``waiting'') time. It was also proven that, in the corresponding adiabatic approximation, the same effect occurs in the underlying real GL equation. The present paper produces a rigorous proof of a similar statement for the reaction-diffusion system which is approximated by the real GL equation.