Meandering Spiral Waves Induced by Time-Periodic Coupling Strength

Effects of time-periodic coupling strength (TPCS) on spiral waves dynamics are studied by numerical computations and mathematical analyses. We find that meandering or drifting spirals waves, which are not observed for the case of constant coupling strength, can be induced by TPCS. In particular, a transition between outward petal and inward petal meandering spirals is observed when the period of TPCS is varied. These two types of meandering spirals are separated by a drifting spiral, which can be induced by TPCS when the period of TPCS is very close to that of rigidly rotating spiral. Similar results can be obtained if the coupling strength is modulated by a rectangle wave. Furthermore, a kinetic model for spiral movement suggested by Di et al., Phys. Rev. E 85 (2012) 046216] is applied for explaining the above findings. The theoretical results are in good qualitative agreement with numerical simulations.