Unified framework for localized patterns in reaction–diffusion systems; the Gray–Scott and Gierer–Meinhardt cases

Abstract

A recent study of canonical activator-inhibitor Schnakenberg-like models posed on an infinite line is extended to include models, such as Gray-Scott, with bistability of homogeneous equilibria. A homotopy is studied that takes a Schnakenberg-like glycolysis model to the Gray-Scott model. Numerical continuation is used to understand the complete sequence of transitions to two-parameter bifurcation diagrams within the localized pattern parameter regime as the homotopy parameter varies. Several distinct codimension-two bifurcations are discovered including cusp and quadruple zero points for homogeneous steady states, a degenerate heteroclinic connection and a change in connectedness of the homoclinic snaking structure. The analysis is repeated for the Gierer-Meinhardt system, which lies outside the canonical framework. Similar transitions are found under homotopy between bifurcation diagrams for the case where there is a constant feed in the active field, to it being in the inactive field. Wider implications of the results are discussed for other pattern-formation systems arising as models of natural phenomena. This article is part of the theme issue 'Recent progress and open frontiers in Turing's theory of morphogenesis'.