Characterizing spontaneous irregular behavior in coupled map lattices

Two-dimensional coupled map lattices display, in a specific parameter range, a stable phase (quasi-) periodic in both space and time. With small changes to the model parameters.. this stable phase develops spontaneous eruptions of non-periodic behavior. Although this behavior itself appears irregular, it can be characterized in a systematic fashion. In particular, parameter-independent features of the spontaneous eruptions may allow useful empirical characterizations of other phenomena that are intrinsically hard to predict and reproduce. Specific features of the distributions of lifetimes and emergence rates of irregular states display such parameter-independent properties. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.