Real Ginzburg–Landau equation ($A_T=rA+\xi A_{XX}-g|A{|}^{2}A$)

The real-coefficient Ginzburg–Landau amplitude equation has complex $A$ and real parameters, usually $\xi ,g>0$ near a supercritical stationary pattern onset. A detuned plane wave $A=\rho e^{iQX}$ has ${\rho }^2=(r-\xi Q^2)/g$. Its phase and amplitude sidebands determine the narrower Eckhaus instability stability band. It is a local envelope model; additional conserved fields or mean flows may need their own equations.

A cubic destabilizing term and quintic saturation describe a subcritical stationary pattern bifurcation. A plane wave $A=R{e}^{iQX}$ has squared amplitude $x=R^2$ satisfying $\mu -Q^2+\alpha x-x^2=0$. The nonzero branches meet at $x=\alpha /2$, $\mu =Q^2-{\alpha }^2/4$. The lower branch is unstable to amplitude perturbations; the upper branch can also undergo an Eckhaus instability of its phase.

For $A_T=\mu A+3\hat{s}A|A{|}^2-10A|A{|}^4+4A_{XX}$, a nonzero uniform real state with $B=A_0^2$ obeys $\mu =-3\hat{s}B+10B^2$. Real amplitude sidebands grow at $6\hat{s}B-40B^2-4{\ell }^2$, while phase sidebands grow at $-4{\ell }^2$. The maximum amplitude growth coefficient is $9{\hat{s}}^2/40$, attained at $B=3\hat{s}/40$. Thus nonzero uniform states cannot have modulation bifurcations if the smallest allowed slow wavenumber exceeds $3\hat{s}/(4\sqrt{10})$. For a physical domain of length $L$ and $X={\epsilon }^{2}x$, this gives $L<8\pi \sqrt{10}/(3s)$. The zero state is an exception: it has sideband thresholds $\mu =4{\ell }^2$ for every positive allowed wavenumber, so an assertion including all uniform states would be false.

For $r,\xi ,g>0$, longitudinal phase modulation of a detuned convection roll yields diffusion coefficient $D_{\varphi }=\xi (r-3\xi Q^2)/(r-\xi Q^2)$. The expression follows by eliminating the fast amplitude correction from the coupled linear amplitude-phase equations at small modulation wavenumber. Thus convection rolls become unstable for $Q^2>r/(3\xi )$ although they exist for $Q^2<r/\xi$. At the boundary the leading phase diffusion vanishes and higher spatial orders matter.

For a real Ginzburg–Landau equation plane wave with amplitude squared $b/g>0$, perturbing its amplitude and phase couples Fourier modes on either side of its carrier wavenumber. The displayed eigenvalues follow from the real-linear two-component perturbation equation. Their small-$p$ phase branch is $-\xi (\mu -3\xi q^2)p^2/(\mu -\xi q^2)+O(p^4)$, so the robust infinite-domain stable band is $q^2<\mu /(3\xi )$. On a finite periodic envelope domain only discrete $p$ are allowed; an instability requires an allowed $p$ with $p^2<6q^2-2\mu /\xi$. Uniform amplitude perturbations alone cannot determine this Eckhaus instability.

For the upper plane-wave branch of the quintic real Ginzburg-Landau equation, put $\Lambda =2R^2(2R^2-\alpha )>0$. A modulation of wavenumber $p$ has growth rates $-p^2-\Lambda /2\pm \sqrt{{\Lambda }^2/4+4Q^2{p}^2}$. Long-wave phase diffusion is positive when $4Q^2<\Lambda$, giving the displayed stability boundary. At equality the leading phase growth is $-p^4/\Lambda$, so the boundary is marginal in the diffusion coefficient but damped at the next spatial order. In the $(\mu ,Q)$ plane the boundary is $\mu =2Q^2-\alpha [\alpha +\sqrt{{\alpha }^2+16Q^2}]/8$.