Modeling chemical reactions by forced limit-cycle oscillator: synchronization phenomena and transition to chaos

The lattice limit-cycle (LLC) model is introduced as a minimal mean-field scheme which can model reactive dynamics on lattices (low dimensional supports) producing non-linear limit cycle oscillations. Under the influence of an external periodic force the dynamics of the LLC may be drastically modified. Synchronization phenomena, bifurcations and transitions to chaos are observed as a function of the strength of the force. Taking advantage of the drastic change on the dynamics due to the periodic forcing, it is possible to modify the output/product or the production rate of a chemical reaction at will, simply by applying a periodic force to it, without the need to change the support properties or the experimental conditions.