From order to chimeras: Unravelling dynamic patterns in active fluids with nonlinear growth

We explore pattern formation in an active fluid system involving two chemical species that regulate active stress: a fast-diffusing species (A) and a slow-diffusing species (I). The growth of species A is modelled using a nonlinear logistic term. Through linear stability analysis, we derive phase diagrams illustrating the various dynamical regimes in parameter space. Our findings indicate that an increase in the Péclet number results in the destabilization of the uniform steady state. In contrast, counter-intuitively, an increase in the nonlinear growth parameter of A actually stabilizes the homogeneous steady-state regime. Additionally, we observe that greater asymmetry between the species leads to three distinct dynamical phases, while low asymmetry fails to produce oscillatory instability. Numerical simulations conducted in instability regimes show patterns that range from irregular, arrhythmic configurations at high Péclet numbers to both transient and robust symmetry-breaking chimera states. Notably, these chimera patterns are more prevalent in the oscillatory instability regime, and our stability analysis indicates that this regime is the most extensive for high nonlinear growth parameters and moderately high Péclet numbers. Further, we also find soliton-like structures where aggregations of species A merge, and new aggregations spontaneously emerge, and these patterns are prevalent in the phase of stationary instability. Overall, our study illustrates that a diverse array of patterns can emerge in active matter influenced by nonlinear growth in a chemical species, with chimeras being particularly dominant when the nonlinear growth parameter is elevated.