This paper is an introductory review of the problem of front propagation into unstable states. Our presentation is centered around the concept of the asymptotic linear spreading velocity v*, the asymptotic rate with which initially localized perturbations spread into an unstable state according to the linear dynamical equations obtained by linearizing the fully nonlinear equations about the unstable state. This allows us to give a precise definition of pulled fronts, nonlinear fronts whose asymptotic propagation speed equals v*, and pushed fronts, nonlinear fronts whose asymptotic speed v^dagger is larger than v*. In addition, this approach allows us to clarify many aspects of the front selection problem, the question whether for a given dynamical equation the front is pulled or pushed. It also is the basis for the universal expressions for the power law rate of approach of the transient velocity v(t) of a pulled front as it converges toward its asymptotic value v*. Almost half of the paper is devoted to reviewing many experimental and theoretical examples of front propagation into unstable states from this unified perspective. The paper also includes short sections on the derivation of the universal power law relaxation behavior of v(t), on the absence of a moving boundary approximation for pulled fronts, on the relation between so-called global modes and front propagation, and on stochastic fronts.Comment: final version with some added references; a single pdf file of the published version is available at http://www.lorentz.leidenuniv.nl/~saarloo

Fronts that start from a local perturbation and propagate into a linearly unstable state come in two classes: pulled fronts and pushed fronts. The term "pulled front" expresses that these fronts are "pulled along" by the spreading of linear perturbations about the unstable state. Accordingly, their asymptotic speed v * equals the spreading speed of perturbations whose dynamics is governed by the equations linearized about the unstable state. The central result of this paper is the analysis of the convergence of asymptotically uniformly traveling pulled fronts towards v * . We show that when such fronts evolve from "sufficiently steep" initial conditions, which initially decay faster than e −λ * x for x → ∞, they have a universal relaxation behavior as time t → ∞: the velocity of a pulled front always relaxes algebraically likeThe parameters v * , λ * , and D are determined through a saddle point analysis from the equation of motion linearized about the unstable invaded state. This front velocity is independent of the precise value of the front amplitude, which one tracks to measure the front position. The interior of the front is essentially slaved to the leading edge, and develops universally asis a uniformly translating front solution with velocity v < v * .Our result, which can be viewed as a general center manifold result for pulled front propagation is derived in detail for the well-known nonlinear diffusion equation of type ∂ t φ = ∂ 2 x φ + φ − φ 3 , where the invaded unstable state is φ = 0. Even for this simple case, the subdominant t −3/2 term extends an earlier result of Bramson. Our analysis is then generalized to more general (sets of) partial differential equations with higher spatial or temporal derivatives, to PDEs with memory kernels, and also to difference equations such as those that occur in numerical finite difference codes. Our universal result for pulled fronts thus implies independence (i) of the level curve which is used to track the front position, (ii) of the precise nonlinearities, (iii) of the precise form of the linear operators in the dynamical equation, and (iv) of the precise initial conditions, as long as they are sufficiently steep. The only remainders of the explicit form of the dynamical equation are the nonlinear solutions v and the three saddle point parameters v * , λ * , and D. As our simulations confirm all our analytical predictions in every detail, it can be concluded that we have a complete analytical understanding of the propagation mechanism and relaxation behavior of pulled fronts, if they are uniformly translating for t → ∞. An immediate consequence of the slow algebraic relaxation is that the standard moving boundary approximation breaks down for weakly curved pulled fronts in two or three dimensions. In addition to our main result for pulled fronts, we also discuss the propagation and convergence of fronts emerging from * Corresponding author. Present address: CWI, Postbus 94079, 1090 GB Amsterdam, Netherlands 0167-2789/00/$ -see front matter © 2000 Else...

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