Eckhaus instability in systems with large delay

The dynamical behavior of various physical and biological systems under the influence of delayed feedback or coupling can be modeled by including terms with delayed arguments in the equations of motion. In particular, the case of long delay may lead to complicated and high-dimensional dynamics. We investigate the effects of delay in systems that display an oscillatory instability (Hopf bifurcation) in the absence of delay. We show by analytical and numerical methods that the dynamical scenario includes the coexistence of multiple stable periodic solutions and can be described in terms of the Eckhaus instability, which is well known in the context of spatially extended systems.