Pattern formation: reactivity is not necessary for chemotaxis--driven instabilities

Abstract

A classical result by Neubert, Caswell and Murray states that reactivity of a spatially homogeneous equilibrium is a necessary condition for diffusion-driven (Turing) instability. In this work, we investigate whether the same conclusion remains valid in the presence of chemotaxis. We consider a general reaction--diffusion system coupled with a chemotactic flux and establish necessary conditions for asymptotic instability. We show that the classical requirement of reactivity can be relaxed when the chemotactic contribution is sufficiently strong. In particular, while reactivity remains necessary for Turing instability, it is not a necessary condition for chemotaxis-driven instability. From a computational viewpoint, we extend the matrix-oriented formulation developed for reaction--diffusion systems to the more general class of reaction--diffusion--chemotaxis models. The chemotactic transport term is discretized in a form compatible with the matrix-oriented approximation of the diffusion operator, yielding an efficient numerical framework for the simulation of chemotaxis-driven pattern formation. A geometric interpretation of the instability region is presented, highlighting the distinct roles played by diffusion and chemotaxis. The theoretical and numerical developments are illustrated through two representative examples: a chemotaxis-extended Schnakenberg model, showing how chemotaxis modifies classical Turing patterns, and a predator--prey model, demonstrating that chemotaxis alone can induce pattern formation in the absence of both reactivity and diffusion-driven instability. These results reveal a fundamental difference between diffusion-driven and chemotaxis-driven mechanisms of spatial self-organization and provide new theoretical and computational insights into the role of non-symmetric transport processes in biological pattern formation.