Dynamics of a discrete Brusselator model: escape to infinity and Julia set (Q862027)

The paper deals with a discrete version of the Brusselator model obtained through the discretization of the system of reaction-diffusion equations \[ \begin{aligned} \frac{\partial u_{1}}{\partial t} & =A-\left( B+1\right) u_{1}+u_{1} ^{2}u_{2}+\kappa_{1}\frac{\partial^{2}u_{1}}{\partial x^{2}},\\ \frac{\partial u_{2}}{\partial t} & =Bu_{1}-u_{1}^{2}u_{2}+\kappa_{2} \frac{\partial^{2}u_{2}}{\partial x^{2}}, \end{aligned} \] where \(\kappa_{i}\) are diffusion constants and \(u_{i}\) represent concentrations of the compounds \(\mathcal{X}\) and \(\mathcal{Y}.\) A coupled map lattice (CML) associated with the Brusselator model has the form \[ u_{j}(n+1)=f\left( u_{j}\left( n\right) \right) +\varepsilon g_{j}\left( \left\{ u_{i}(n)\right\} _{\left| i-j\right| \leq s}\right) , \] where \(n\) and \(j\) are discrete time and space coordinates respectively, the local map \(f:\mathbb{R}^{2}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}^{2}\) for the CML is defined by \[ f(u_{1},u_{2})=\left( a+\left( 1-\gamma-b\right) u_{1}+\gamma u_{1} ^{2}u_{2},u_{2}+bu_{1}-\gamma u_{1}^{2}u_{2}\right), \] and \(a=A\Delta t,\) \(b=B\Delta t,\) \(\gamma=\Delta t\) are positive parameters. The authors study the dynamics of the local map \(f\) focusing attention on the trajectories that escape to infinity. They also investigate bounded trajectories which form a Cantor-like set of positive area in the plane which apparently is the Julia set of the system. The existence of such a set is established and the procedure for constructing it is suggested. The topological structure of the Julia set is very complicated and is not discussed in the paper which is concluded with a list of interesting questions that will be addressed in forthcoming papers. The authors plan to explore whether \(J\) is a connected set; whether it has positive area for all values of parameters; whether periodic orbits are dense in \(J\); whether the map \(f|J\) is hyperbolic for some values of parameters, etc.