Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 61, Nos. 11/2, 1990. p. 253-262.
We show how increasing spatial interaction leads to the merging of coherent structures from chaos in some systems of coupled map lattices. This phenomenon reflects the arising of new ground states in the corresponding
model of statistical mechanics. If we further increase the coupling then, new ground states appear showing the coexistence of a large-scale coherent structure with a small-scale chaotic motion. This allows us to propose a generalization of the notion of spatial intermittency.