In this work, we analyse a pair of one-dimensional coupled reaction-diffusion equations known as the Gray-Scott model, in which self-replicating patterns have been observed. We focus on stationary and travelling patterns, and begin by deriving the asymptotic scaling of the parameters and variables necessary for the analysis of these patterns. Single-pulse and multi-pulse stationary waves are shown to exist in the appropriately scaled equations on the infinite line. A (single) pulse is a narrow interval in which the concentration U of one chemical is small, while that of the second, V , is large, and outside of which the concentration U tends (slowly) to the homogeneous steady state U ≡ 1, while V is everywhere close to V ≡ 0. In addition, we establish the existence of a plethora of periodic steady states consisting of periodic arrays of pulses interspersed by intervals in which the concentration V is exponentially small and U varies slowly. These periodic states are spatially inhomogeneous steady patterns whose length scales are determined exclusively by the reactions of the chemicals and their diffusions, and not by other mechanisms such as boundary conditions. A complete bifurcation study of these solutions is presented. We also establish the non-existence of travelling solitary pulses in this system. This non-existence result reflects the system's degeneracy and indicates that some event, for example pulse splitting, 'must' occur when two pulses move apart from each other (as has been observed in simulations): these pulses evolve towards the non-existent travelling solitary pulses. The main mathematical techniques employed in this analysis of the stationary and travelling patterns are geometric singular perturbation theory and adiabatic Melnikov theory. Finally, the theoretical results are compared to those obtained from direct numerical simulation of the coupled partial differential equations on a 'very large' domain, using a moving grid code. It has been checked that the boundaries do not influence the dynamics. A subset of the family of stationary single pulses appears to be stable. This subset determines the boundary of a region in parameter space in which the self-replicating process takes place. In that region, we observe that the core of a time-dependent self-replicating pattern turns out to be precisely a stationary periodic pulse pattern of the type that we construct. Moreover, the simulations reveal some other essential components of the pulse-splitting process and provide an important guide to further analysis.

Consider a patch of favorable habitat surrounded by unfavorable habitat and assume that due to a shifting climate, the patch moves with a fixed speed in a one-dimensional universe. Let the patch be inhabited by a population of individuals that reproduce, disperse, and die. Will the population persist? How does the answer depend on the length of the patch, the speed of movement of the patch, the net population growth rate under constant conditions, and the mobility of the individuals? We will answer these questions in the context of a simple dynamic profile model that incorporates climate shift, population dynamics, and migration. The model takes the form of a growth-diffusion equation. We first consider a special case and derive an explicit condition by glueing phase portraits. Then we establish a strict qualitative dichotomy for a large class of models by way of rigorous PDE methods, in particular the maximum principle. The results show that mobility can both reduce and enhance the ability to track climate change that a narrow range can severely reduce this ability and that population range and total population size can both increase and decrease under a moving climate. It is also shown that range shift may be easier to detect at the expanding front, simply because it is considerably steeper than the retreating back.

In the last decade, several numerical techniques have been developed to solve time-dependent partial differential equations (PDEs) in one dimension having solutions with steep gradients in space and in time. One of these techniques, a moving-grid method based on a Lagrangian description of the PDE and a smoothed-equidistribution principle to define the grid positions at each time level, has been coupled with a spatial discretization method that automatically discreizes the spatial part of the user-defined PDE following the method of lines approach. We supply two FORTRAN subroutines, CWRESU and CWRESX, which compute the residuals of the differential algebraic equations (DAE) system obtained from semidiscretizing, respectively, the PDE and the set of moving-grid equations. These routines are combined in an enveloping routine SKMRES, which delivers the residuals of the complete DAE system. To solve this stiff, nonlinear DAE system, a robust and efficient time-integrator must be applied, for example, a BDF method such as implemented in the DAE solvers SPRINT [Berzins and Furzeland 1985; 1986; Berzins et al. 1989] and DASSL [Brenan et al. 1989; Petzold 1983]. Some numerical examples are shown to illustrate the simple and effective use of this software interface.

In recent years, several sophisticated packages based on the method of lines (MOL) have been developed for the automatic numerical integration of time-dependent problems in partial differential equations (PDEs), notably for problems in one space dimension. These packages greatly benefit from the very successful developments of automatic stiff ordinary differential equation solvers. However, from the PDE point of view, they integrate only in a semiautomatic way in the sense that they automatically adjust the time step sizes, but use just .a fixed space grid, chosen a priori, for the entire calculation. For solutions possessing sharp spatial transitions that move, e.g., travelling wave fronts or emerging boundary and interior layers, a grid held fixed for the entire calculation is computationally inefficient, since for a good solution this grid often must contain a very large number of nodes. In such cases methods which attempt automatically to adjust the sizes of both the space and the time steps are likely to be more successful in efficiently resolving critical regions of high spatial and temporal activity. Methods and codes that operate this way belong to the realm of adaptive or moving-grid methods. Following the MOL approach, this paper is devoted to an evaluation and comparison, mainly based on extensive numerical tests, of three moving-grid methods for ID problems, viz., the finite-element method of Miller and co-workers, the method published by Petzold, and a method based on ideas adopted from Dorfi and Drury. Our examination of these three methods is aimed at assessing which is the most suitable from the point of view of retaining the acknowledged features of reliability, robustness, and efficiency of the conventional MOL approach. Therefore, considerable attention is paid to the temporal performance of the methods.

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A recent macroscopic theory of biphasic flow in porous media ͓R. Hilfer, Phys. Rev. E 73, 016307 ͑2006͔͒ has proposed to treat microscopically percolating fluid regions differently from microscopically nonpercolating regions. Even in one dimension the theory reduces to an analytically intractable set of ten coupled nonlinear partial differential equations. This paper reports numerical solutions for three different initial and boundary value problems that simulate realistic laboratory experiments. All three simulations concern a closed column containing a homogeneous porous medium filled with two immiscible fluids of different densities. In the first simulation the column is raised from a horizontal to a vertical orientation inducing a buoyancy-driven fluid flow that separates the two fluids. In the second simulation the column is first raised from a horizontal to a vertical orientation and subsequently rotated twice by 180°to compare the resulting stationary saturation profiles. In the third simulation the column is first raised from horizontal to vertical orientation and then returned to its original horizontal orientation. In all three simulations imbibition and drainage processes occur simultaneously inside the column. This distinguishes the results reported here from conventional simulations based on existing theories of biphasic flows. Existing theories are unable to predict flow processes where imbibition and drainage occur simultaneously. The approximate numerical results presented here show the same process dependence and hysteresis as one would expect from an experiment.

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