Chimera States in Continuous Media: Existence and Distinctness

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that chimera states, characterized by coexisting order and disorder, can occur in continuous media like fluid systems with local coupling, expanding their known presence beyond oscillator networks.

Contribution

It shows the existence of chimera states in continuous media with local coupling, using the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation, highlighting the role of fluctuations in these states.

Findings

Chimera states can exist in continuous media with local coupling.

Fluctuations in local coupling fields limit coherent regions.

Chimera states involve a frozen spiral and amplitude turbulence.

Abstract

The defining property of chimera states is the coexistence of coherent and incoherent domains in systems that are structurally and spatially homogeneous. The recent realization that such states might be common in oscillator networks raises the question of whether an analogous phenomenon can occur in continuous media. Here, we show that chimera states can exist in continuous systems even when the coupling is strictly local, as in many fluid and pattern forming media. Using the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation as a model system, we characterize chimera states consisting of a coherent domain of a frozen spiral structure and an incoherent domain of amplitude turbulence. We show that in this case, in contrast with discrete network systems, fluctuations in the local coupling field play a crucial role in limiting the coherent regions. We suggest these findings shed light on new possible forms of coexisting order and disorder in fluid systems.