Pattern formation in a Swift-Hohenberg equation with spatially periodic coefficients

Abstract: We study the Swift-Hohenberg equation - a paradigm model for pattern formation - with "large" spatially periodic coefficients and find a Turing bifurcation that generates patterns whose leading order form is a Bloch wave modulated by solutions of a Ginzburg-Landau type equation. Since the interplay between forcing wavenumber and intrinsic wavenumber crucially shapes the spectrum and emerging patterns, we distinguish between resonant and non-resonant regimes. Extending earlier work that assumed asymptotically small coefficients, we tackle the more involved onset analysis produced by O(1) forcing and work directly in Bloch space, where the richer structure of the bifurcating solutions becomes apparent. This abstract framework is readily transferable to more complex systems, such as reaction-diffusion equations arising as dryland vegetation models, where topography induces spatial heterogeneity.