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Chaos in the Zhabotinskii reaction

Nature volume 271, pages 89–90 (1978)Cite this article

Abstract

THE Belousov–Zhabotinskii reaction is a chemical Bonhoeffer–van der Pol circuit, that is, a relaxation oscillator that can be run as both an astable and a monostable ‘flip-flop’1–3. Apparently the reaction also belongs to the slightly more complicated class of‘universal circuits’4 as introduced by Khaikin5–6. Oscillators of this type not only show ‘smooth’ and ‘relaxation type’ oscillations5–6, but also ‘chaotic’ oscillations4. As evidenced by the simplest equation of this type7, both ‘spiral type’ and ‘screw type’ chaos20 are possible in such systems. We present here preliminary evidence for the occurrence of screw-type chaos in the Zhabotinskii reaction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, University of Tübingen,

    OTTO E. ROSSLER

  2. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Stuttgart,

    OTTO E. ROSSLER

  3. Institute for Chemical Plant Physiology, University of Tübingen, 7400, Tübingen, FRG

    KLAUS WEGMANN

Authors
  1. OTTO E. ROSSLER
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  2. KLAUS WEGMANN
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ROSSLER, O., WEGMANN, K. Chaos in the Zhabotinskii reaction. Nature 271, 89–90 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/271089a0

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