On the Parameter Inference in Chaotic Chemical Systems

In a deterministic conceptual framework the predictability of the time behavior of a system strongly depends of the exact knowledge of the initial conditions. Since the measures of the initial conditions are always affected by experimental uncertainties, the problem of the predictability of the system\´s behavior has to be reformulated and the concept of ``deterministic chaos" has to be introduced. The new question to be addressed concerns the possibility to identify and estimate the kinetic parameters governing the time-behavior of the presence of chaos in the experimental observations of deterministic dynamic systems. In this paper we first review the key features of chaotic dynamics, then we introduce a technique for estimating unknown and/or uncertain parameters of non-linear chemical systems. This method is demonstrated through the use of a well-known prototype of chaotic system: the three-variable autocatalator.