ASYMMETRIC COUPLING STABILIZES THE OUT-OF-PHASE MODE - EXPERIMENTAL-EVIDENCE IN THE BELOUSOV-ZHABOTINSKY REACTION

The Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction was studied for the system with two continuous-flow stirred tank reactors coupled to each other through mass transfer. The coupling strength was quantitatively controlled by changing the flow rate between the reactors with a peristaltic pump. It became clear that when the coupling between the reactors was symmetric, synchronization or entrainment with the in-phase mode was quite stable. On the other hand, the parameter space, or the basin, of the out-of-phase mode became greater with "asymmetric" coupling. Such an experimental trend is discussed in relation to the results of numerical simulations on coupled nonlinear differential equations.