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Concept
Reaction–diffusion system
Summary
Reaction–diffusion systems are mathematical models which correspond to several physical phenomena. The most common is the change in space and time of the concentration of one or more chemical substances: local chemical reactions in which the substances are transformed into each other, and diffusion which causes the substances to spread out over a surface in space.
Reaction–diffusion systems are naturally applied in chemistry. However, the system can also describe dynamical processes of non-chemical nature. Examples are found in biology, geology and physics (neutron diffusion theory) and ecology. Mathematically, reaction–diffusion systems take the form of semi-linear parabolic partial differential equations. They can be represented in the general form
where q(x, t) represents the unknown vector function, is a diagonal matrix of diffusion coefficients, and R accounts for all local reactions. The solutions of reaction–diffusion equations display a wide range of behaviours, including the formation of travelling waves and wave-like phenomena as well as other self-organized patterns like stripes, hexagons or more intricate structure like dissipative solitons. Such patterns have been dubbed "Turing patterns". Each function, for which a reaction diffusion differential equation holds, represents in fact a concentration variable.
The simplest reaction–diffusion equation is in one spatial dimension in plane geometry,
is also referred to as the Kolmogorov–Petrovsky–Piskunov equation. If the reaction term vanishes, then the equation represents a pure diffusion process. The corresponding equation is Fick's second law. The choice R(u) = u(1 − u) yields Fisher's equation that was originally used to describe the spreading of biological populations, the Newell–Whitehead-Segel equation with R(u) = u(1 − u2) to describe Rayleigh–Bénard convection, the more general Zeldovich–Frank-Kamenetskii equation with R(u) = u(1 − u)e-β(1-u) and 0 < β < ∞ (Zeldovich number) that arises in combustion theory, and its particular degenerate case with R(u) = u2 − u3 that is sometimes referred to as the Zeldovich equation as well.
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Ontological neighbourhood
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Related concepts (10)
Patterns in nature
Patterns in nature are visible regularities of form found in the natural world. These patterns recur in different contexts and can sometimes be modelled mathematically. Natural patterns include symmetries, trees, spirals, meanders, waves, foams, tessellations, cracks and stripes. Early Greek philosophers studied pattern, with Plato, Pythagoras and Empedocles attempting to explain order in nature. The modern understanding of visible patterns developed gradually over time.
The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis
"The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis" is an article that the English mathematician Alan Turing wrote in 1952. It describes how patterns in nature, such as stripes and spirals, can arise naturally from a homogeneous, uniform state. The theory, which can be called a reaction–diffusion theory of morphogenesis, has become a basic model in theoretical biology. Such patterns have come to be known as Turing patterns. For example, it has been postulated that the protein VEGFC can form Turing patterns to govern the formation of lymphatic vessels in the zebrafish embryo.
Turing pattern
The Turing pattern is a concept introduced by English mathematician Alan Turing in a 1952 paper titled "The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis" which describes how patterns in nature, such as stripes and spots, can arise naturally and autonomously from a homogeneous, uniform state. The pattern arises due to Turing instability which in turn arises due to the interplay between differential diffusion (i.e., different values of diffusion coefficients) of chemical species and chemical reaction.