A fundamental and frequently cited book provides asymptotic methods applicable to the dynamics of self-oscillating fields of the reaction-diffusion type. Graduate level. 40 figures. 1984 edition.

Tbis book is intended to provide a few asymptotic methods which can be applied to the dynamics of self-oscillating fields of the reaction-diffusion type and of some related systems. Such systems, forming cooperative fields of a large num of interacting similar subunits, are considered as typical synergetic systems. ber Because each local subunit itself represents an active dynamical system function ing only in far-from-equilibrium situations, the entire system is capable of showing a variety of curious pattern formations and turbulencelike behaviors quite unfamiliar in thermodynamic cooperative fields. I personally believe that the nonlinear dynamics, deterministic or statistical, of fields composed of similar active (Le., non-equilibrium) elements will form an extremely attractive branch of physics in the near future. For the study of non-equilibrium cooperative systems, some theoretical guid ing principle would be highly desirable. In this connection, this book pushes for ward a particular physical viewpoint based on the slaving principle. The dis covery of tbis principle in non-equilibrium phase transitions, especially in lasers, was due to Hermann Haken. The great utility of this concept will again be dem onstrated in tbis book for the fields of coupled nonlinear oscillators.

The concept of macroscopic waves and patterns developing from chemical reaction coupling with diffusion was presented, apparently for the first time, at the Main Meeting of the Deutsche Bunsengesellschaft fur Angewandte Physikalische Chemie, held in Dresden, Germany from May 21 to 24, 1906. Robert Luther, Director of the Physical Chemistry Laboratory in Leipzig, read his paper on the discovery and analysis of propagating reaction-diffusion fronts in autocatalytic chemical reactions [1, 2]. He presented an equation for the velocity of these new waves, V = a(KDC)1/2, and asserted that they might have features in common with propagating action potentials in nerve cell axons. During the discussion period, a skeptic in the audience voiced his objections to this notion. It was none other than the great physical chemist Walther Nernst, who believed that nerve impulse propagation was far too rapid to be akin to the propagating fronts. He was also not willing to accept Luther's wave velocity equation without a derivation. Luther stood his ground, saying his equation was "a simple consequence of the corresponding differential equation. " He described several different autocatalytic reactions that exhibit propagating fronts (recommending gelling the solution to prevent convection) and even presented a demonstration: the autocatalytic permanganate oxidation of oxalate was carried out in a test tube with the image of the front projected onto a screen for the audience.

Wave Turbulence refers to the statistical theory of weakly nonlinear dispersive waves. There is a wide and growing spectrum of physical applications, ranging from sea waves, to plasma waves, to superfluid turbulence, to nonlinear optics and Bose-Einstein condensates. Beyond the fundamentals the book thus also covers new developments such as the interaction of random waves with coherent structures (vortices, solitons, wave breaks), inverse cascades leading to condensation and the transitions between weak and strong turbulence, turbulence intermittency as well as finite system size effects, such as “frozen” turbulence, discrete wave resonances and avalanche-type energy cascades. This book is an outgrow of several lectures courses held by the author and, as a result, written and structured rather as a graduate text than a monograph, with many exercises and solutions offered along the way. The present compact description primarily addresses students and non-specialist researchers wishing to enter and work in this field.

A rigorously comprehensive and interdisciplinary text on wave turbulence, for graduate students and researchers in physics-related fields.