Understanding the spontaneous formation and dynamics of spatiotemporal patterns in dissipative nonequilibrium systems is one of the major challenges in nonlinear science. This collection of expository papers and advanced research articles, written by leading experts, provides an overview of the state of the art. The topics include new approaches to the mathematical characterization of spatiotemporal complexity, with special emphasis on the role of symmetry, as well as analysis and experiments of patterns in a remarkable variety of applied fields such as magnetoconvection, liquid crystals, granular media, Faraday waves, multiscale biological patterns, visual hallucinations, and biological pacemakers. The unitary presentations, guiding the reader from basic fundamental concepts to the most recent research results on each of the themes, make the book suitable for a wide audience.

An account of how complex patterns form in sustained nonequilibrium systems; for graduate students in biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, and physics.

The mathematical description of complex spatiotemporal behaviour observed in dissipative continuous systems is a major challenge for modern research in applied mathematics. While the behaviour of low-dimensional systems, governed by the dynamics of a finite number of modes is well understood, systems with large or unbounded spatial domains show intrinsic infinite-dimensional behaviour --not a priori accessible to the methods of finite dimensionaldynamical systems. The purpose of the four contributions in this book is to present some recent and active lines of research in evolution equations posed in large or unbounded domains. One of the most prominent features of these systems is the propagation of various types of patterns in the form of waves, such as travelling and standing waves and pulses and fronts. Different approaches to studying these kinds of phenomena are discussed in the book. A major theme is the reduction of an original evolution equation in the form of a partial differential equation system to a simpler system of equations, either a system of ordinary differential equation or a canonical system of PDEs. The study of the reduced equations provides insight into the bifurcations from simple to more complicated solutions and their stabilities. .

This new edition also treats smart materials and artificial life. A new chapter on information and computational dynamics takes up many recent discussions in the community.

This monograph is the first to provide readers with numerical tools for a systematic analysis of bifurcation problems in reaction-diffusion equations. Many examples and figures illustrate analysis of bifurcation scenario and implementation of numerical schemes. Readers will gain a thorough understanding of numerical bifurcation analysis and the necessary tools for investigating nonlinear phenomena in reaction-diffusion equations.

Spontaneous pattern formation in nonlinear dissipative systems far from equilibrium occurs in a variety of settings in nature and technology, and has applications ranging from nonlinear optics through solid and fluid mechanics, physical chemistry and chemical engineering to biology. This book explores the forefront of current research, describing in-depth the analytical methods that elucidate the complex evolution of nonlinear dissipative systems.