Defect chaos of oscillating hexagons in rotating convection

Using coupled Ginzburg-Landau equations, the dynamics or hexagonal patterns with broken chiral symmetry an investigated, as they appear in rotating non-Boussinesq or surface-tension-driven convection. We find that close to the secondary Hopf bifurcation to oscillating hexagons the dynamics are well described by a single complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (CGLE coupled to the phases of the hexagonal pattern. Ar the band center these equations reduce to the usual CGLE and the system exhibits defect chaos. Away from the band center a transition to a frozen vortex state is found.