Pattern formation in a fractional reaction-diffusion system

We investigate pattern formation in a fractional reaction-diffusion system. By the method of computer simulation of the model of excitable media with cubic nonlinearity we are able to show structure formation in the system with time and space fractional derivatives. We further compare the patterns obtained by computer simulation with those obtained by simulation of the similar system without fractional derivatives. As a result, we are able to show that nonlinearity plays the main role in structure formation and fractional derivative terms change the transient dynamics. So, when the order of time derivative increases and approaches the value of 1.5, the special structure formation switches to homogeneous oscillations. In the case of space fractional derivatives, the decrease of the order of these derivatives leads to more contrast dissipative structures. The variational principle is used to find the approximate solution of such fractional reaction-diffusion model. In addition, we provide a detailed analysis of the characteristic dissipative structures in the system under consideration. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.