The second edition of this volume has been extensively revised. A
different version of Chap. 7, reflecting recent significant progress in
understanding of spatiotempo- ral chaos, is now provided. Much new
material has been included in the sections dealing with intermittency in
birth-death models and noise-induced phase transi- tions. A new section
on control of chaotic behavior has been added to Chap. 6. The subtitle
of the volume has been changed to better reflect its contents. We
acknowledge stimulating discussions with H. Haken and E. Scholl and are
grateful to our colleagues M. Bar, D. Battogtokh, M. Eiswirth, M.
Hildebrand, K. Krischer, and V. Tereshko for their comments and
assistance. We thank M. Lubke for her help in producing new figures for
this volume. Berlin and Moscow A. s. Mikhailov April 1996 A. Yu.
Loskutov Preface to the First Edition This textbook is based on a
lecture course in synergetics given at the University of Moscow. In this
second of two volumes, we discuss the emergence and properties of
complex chaotic patterns in distributed active systems. Such patterns
can be produced autonomously by a system, or can result from selective
amplification of fluctuations caused by external weak noise.