Eur. Phys. J. B 5, 299-308 (1998)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050446

Pulses of tunable size near a subcritical bifurcation

Arizona Center for Mathematical Sciences, Department of Mathematics, University of Arizona, Bldg #89, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA

Corresponding author: ^a lega@acms.arizona.edu

Received: 29 May 1997
Revised: 16 March 1998
Accepted: 30 April 1998
Published online: 15 September 1998

Abstract

We show that a nonlinear gradient term can be used to tune the width of pulse-like solutions to a generalized quintic Ginzburg-Landau equation. We investigate the dynamics of these solutions and show that weakly turbulent patches can persist for long times. Analogies with turbulent spots in plane Couette flows are discussed.