No abstract

Chimera states occur spontaneously in populations of coupled photosensitive chemical oscillators. Experiments and simulations are carried out on nonlocally coupled oscillators, with the coupling strength decreasing exponentially with distance. Chimera states with synchronized oscillators, phase waves, and phase clusters coexisting with unsynchronized oscillators are analyzed. Irregular motion of the cores of asynchronous oscillators is found in spiral-wave chimeras.

Chimera and chimera-like states are characterized in populations of photochemically coupled Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) oscillators. Simple chimeras and chimera states with multiple and traveling phase clusters, phase-slip behavior, and chimera-like states with phase waves are described. Simulations with a realistic model of the discrete BZ system of populations of homogeneous and heterogeneous oscillators are compared with each other and with experimental behavior.