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Spatiotemporal Organization of Chemical Oscillators via Phase Separation

Jonathan Bauermann1,*, Giacomo Bartolucci2,3, and Artemy Kolchinsky4,5,6

  • 1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  • 2Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Universitat de Barcelona, 08007 Barcelona, Spain
  • 3Universitat de Barcelona Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS), Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
  • 4ICREA-Complex Systems Lab, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
  • 5Barcelona Collaboratorium for Modelling and Predictive Biology, Wellington 30, 08005 Barcelona, Spain
  • 6Universal Biology Institute, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan

  • *Contact author: jbauermann@fas.harvard.edu
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 178001 – Published 28 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/shz6-7fj9

Abstract

We develop a method for studying chemical oscillators in the presence of phase separation. Specifically, we define a dynamics at phase equilibrium by imposing timescale separation between slow reactions and fast diffusion. We show that colocalization of components can alter oscillator frequency and amplitude, and that it determines the stability of oscillations and fixed points. Although our method applies to general reaction networks with phase separation, we illustrate it on a concrete example of a three-component oscillator (“rock-paper-scissors” model) with two-phase coexistence. The analysis is validated with a spatial model, where relaxing the timescale separation between reactions and diffusion leads to waves of phase equilibria at mesoscopic scales.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 178001– Published 28 April, 2026
  • Received 23 July 2025
  • Accepted 12 March 2026
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