Coupled map lattices as cellular automata

Abstract

We approach the problem of the complex dynamics of coupled map lattices (CML) by proposing a reduction to deterministic cellular automata (CA) with more than two states per site. The reduction scheme replaces the local map by an approximation in terms of a step function based on a straightforward analysis of the local dynamics. The variation of the spatial coupling in the CML then translates itself as a path in the spaces of rules for the equivalent deterministic CA. The transition to turbulence via spatiotemporal intermittency in the CML is then interpreted as a transition in the space of rules. The observed nonuniversality of this transition can be traced back to the nature of the rules involved on both sides of the transition region and to the character of the escape process from the turbulent state, either strongly deterministic or quasiprobabilistic. The relation between CML, deterministic, and probabilistic CA and the possibility of a mean-field treatment of the dynamics of CML are discussed at a more formal level.