title: Helices in the wake of precipitation fronts.
abstract: A theoretical study of the emergence of helices in the wake of precipitation fronts is presented. The precipitation dynamics is described by the Cahn-Hilliard equation and the fronts are obtained by quenching the system into a linearly unstable state. Confining the process onto the surface of a cylinder and using the pulled-front formalism, our analytical calculations show that there are front solutions that propagate into the unstable state and leave behind a helical structure. We find that helical patterns emerge only if the radius of the cylinder R is larger than a critical value R>R(c), in agreement with recent experiments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Theoretical Physics, Eötvös University, 1017 Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Shibi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: István
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lagzi
authors.forename: Ferenc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Molnár
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Rácz