title: Self-replicating holes in a vertically vibrated dense suspension.
abstract: We find self-replicating holes on the surface of a vertically vibrated potato starch suspension. Above certain acceleration, the finite-amplitude deformation of the surface grows to form a hole that penetrates the fluid layer. The circular shape of the hole is not stable, and the hole begins to replicate just like the self-replicating spots in chemical reaction-diffusion systems. At high acceleration, these holes exhibit spatiotemporal chaos. By assessing the statistical properties in a steady state, we show that fluctuation in the number of holes can be understood by a master equation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ebata
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sano