Chemically Driven Convection in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction —Evolutionary Pattern Dynamics—

Abstract

In this work we review recent developments of experimental studies on chemically driven convection (CDC) emerging in a thin solution layer of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. Firstly, there are solitary waves due to convections and oscillatory or rotating convections accompanied by phase waves leading to global flow-pattern dynamics (called "flow waves"). The mechanism to realize the coherency and/or synchrony of such hydrodynamic patterns has not been established yet. Secondly, we summarize several models explaining some of these dynamics and show problems of the models. Especially, we emphasize the role of synchrony among nonlinear oscillators to establish hierarchical pattern dynamics of chemical wave trains and the flow waves. Thirdly, we demonstrate several examples of evolutionary pattern dynamics induced by CDCs in a batch reactor. In the reactor, the emerging phenomena show temporal development and evolutionary pattern dynamics. The direction of this development is from simple to complex, which looks like an evolution emerging in a real reaction-diffusion-convection system.