ИСТИНА

A review of pattern formation in highly nonequilibrium extended dissipative systems close to the onset of a short-wavelength instability is presented. It is shown that in 1D cases, regardless the specific set of the governing equations, the description of the problem may be reduced to a solution of a single parameter-free generic equation. Such an equation is the properly scaled Ginzburg-Landau one. However, if the system in question possesses an additional (to trivial translational and rotational) continuous group of symmetry, the pattern formation problem is changed dramatically. In particular, in this case a direct transition from a quiescent state to spatiotemporal chaos with very unusual properties may become possible. The transition is a nonequilibrium analog of second order phase transitions in statistical physics and inherits many features of the latter (critical slowing down, divergence of the correlation length at the transition points, etc.). Comparison of the developed theory with experiments is discussed too.