Abstract:
A new class of attractors is presented and examined in the theory of dynamical systems. Attractors can arise in chemical reaction systems when they are in a
far-from-equilibrium state. Nonlinear dissipative dynamical systems can arise
in open chemical reaction systems. At least one linear reaction step is needed as a necessary condition. Autocatalysis, which always involves a nonlinear quadratic inverse reaction, and substrate inhibition form examples. Close to equilibrium, autocatalysis becomes ineffective since the back reaction becomes
equally strong so that no net effect remains. An example for a nontrivial
far-from-equilibrium system is the well-known Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction
which shows both temporal and spatial self-organization. An apparently novel type of temporal dynamical behavior in nonlinear dissipative systems is
“flaring“ behavior. Like in astrophysical observations, the word “flare“ refers to
a suddenly and unpredictably occurring, short-lived transition of a dynamical system from a near-quasi-steady-state behavior towards a potentially very high,
transitory, peak-like behavior. In the present thesis, both continuous and discrete
dynamical systems with flare-type behavior are investigated. When using a
well-defined synthetic design principal, one always obtains phase space pictures
and time sequences of a well-defined morphology. In science, discrete dynamical systems are especially important because the flows produced by continuous systems of physical of chemical origin can always be reduced to such kind of a system by way of a “Poincaré cross-section“, which reduces the
dimensionality of the system by one. Most of the examples presented belong into this class. In a final section, in addition also a conservative
(volume-preserving) discrete dynamical system is presented which falls into the same class. A connection between Poincaré reccurences and flaring-type behavior is empirically established.