Oscillatory traveling waves in excitable media

A new type of waves in an excitable medium, characterized by oscillatory profile, is described. The excitable medium is modeled by a two-component activator-inhibitor system. Reaction-diffusion systems with diagonal and cross diffusion are examined. As an example, a front (kink) represented by a heteroclinic orbit in the phase space is considered. The wave shape and velocity are analyzed with the use of exact analytical solutions for wave profiles.     

非均匀可激发介质中的稀密螺旋波

在非均匀可激发介质中,采用Barkley模型数值模拟了稀螺旋波和密螺旋波, 并对二者的动力学行为随参数的变化进行了研究. 结果发现:稀螺旋波的旋转频率随参数b的增加迅速减小,之后趋于饱和, 显示出不同于密螺旋波的行为;两种螺旋波的周期和波长随参数ε 和非均匀区域尺寸R的增加而增加,相对稀螺旋波而言,密螺旋波的性质对R的依赖更为敏感; 稀螺旋波端点的波速随R的增加而减小,与密螺旋波波速变化趋势相反. 另外,由于非均匀区域的影响,当ε 或b 超过某一临界值时,螺旋波臂上出现缺陷点.     

Formation and evolution of scroll waves in photosensitive excitable media

Experimental and computational studies of the formation and evolution of scroll waves in three-dimensional excitable media are presented. Scroll waves are initiated in the photosensitive Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction by perturbing traveling waves transverse to their direction of propagation. Scroll rings are generated by perturbing circular waves, which expand or contract depending on the strength of an imposed excitability gradient and its direction relative to the rotational direction of the scroll wave. (c) 1998 American Institute of Physics.     

非均匀激发介质中螺旋波的演化

采用简单的离散可激发介质模型研究了不同性质和形状的小异质性颗粒对螺旋波演化的影响,在小异质性颗粒均匀分布的情况下,螺旋波的失稳与小异质性颗粒的形状、分布密度和性质有关.数值研究结果表明:在适当的条件下,可以观察到稳定螺旋波发生漫游和螺旋波漂移出系统边界现象,首次观察到螺旋波破碎成空间无序的周期变化斑图和破碎成时空有序的迷宫斑图现象,简要讨论了产生这些现象的物理机理.     

Selection of twisted scroll waves in three-dimensional excitable media

The selection of shape and rotation frequency for scroll waves in reaction-diffusion equations modeling excitable media is investigated. For scrolls with uniform twist about straight filaments, asymptotic methods are used to derive free-boundary equations at leading and first order. Both orders are validated against full solutions of the reaction-diffusion equations. Using these two orders and with no adjustable parameters, the shape and frequency of waves are correctly predicted except possibly near the point of propagation failure where the core becomes large.     

Cookbook asymptotics for spiral and scroll waves in excitable media

Algebraic formulas predicting the frequencies and shapes of waves in a reaction-diffusion model of excitable media are presented in the form of four recipes. The formulas themselves are based on a detailed asymptotic analysis (published elsewhere) of the model equations at leading order and first order in the asymptotic parameter. The importance of the first order contribution is stressed throughout, beginning with a discussion of the Fife limit, Fife scaling, and Fife regime. Recipes are given for spiral waves and detailed comparisons are presented between the asymptotic predictions and the solutions of the full reaction-diffusion equations. Recipes for twisted scroll waves with straight filaments are given and again comparisons are shown. The connection between the asymptotic results and filament dynamics is discussed, and one of the previously unknown coefficients in the theory of filament dynamics is evaluated in terms of its asymptotic expansion. (c) 2002 American Institute of Physics.     

Rotating spiral waves in excitable media: The analytical results

In this paper we calculate the rotation frequency of spiral waves as a function of the parameters of the excitable medium. We give the complete analytical solution in the special case of the Rinzel-Keller model and suggest an analytical procedure for general two-component relaxational reaction-diffusion models. This procedure is based on the Greenberg equation and stability analysis; it is applicable when the core of a spiral wave is large as compared with the characteristic diffusion length. Construction of spiral wave solutions for the waves inside ring channels, circular regions, or around holes is discussed. Multi-armed spiral waves are investigated.     

Using weak impulses to suppress traveling waves in excitable media

Here we propose mechanisms for suppressing non-steady-state motions--propagating pulses, spiral waves, spiral-wave chaos--in excitable media. Our approach is based on two points: (1) excitable media are multistable; and (2) traveling waves in excitable media can be separated into fast and slow motions, which can be considered independently. We show that weak impulses can be used to change the values of the slow variable at the front and back of a traveling wave, which leads to wave front and wave back velocities that are different from each other. This effect can destabilize the traveling wave, resulting in a transition to the rest state.     

可激发介质中环形异质介质导致自维持靶波

在二维可激发介质中引入环形异质可激发介质,研究了可激发介质中自维持靶波的形成,数值模拟结果表明:当介质的激发性和环的尺寸适当选取时,初始的扰动可在可激发介质中产生自维持靶波,对产生自维持靶波的物理机理作了讨论.     

极化电场对可激发介质中螺旋波的控制

螺旋波在不同的物理、化学和生物系统中普遍存在.周期外场,比如极化电场,尤其是具有旋转对称性的圆极化电场可对螺旋波动力学产生重要影响.本文综述了极化电场对可激发介质中螺旋波的控制,包括共振漂移、同步、手征对称性破缺、多臂螺旋波的稳定、次激发介质中的螺旋波、三维回卷波湍流态的控制、心脏组织中螺旋波的去钉扎、心脏组织中螺旋波湍流态的控制等.     

耦合可激发介质中螺旋波的控制研究

采用Br模型研究了三层耦合可激发介质中螺旋波的控制.相邻层之间采用双向耦合.利用加在第二层介质上的局域周期信号产生的平面波来消除螺旋波.数值模拟表明:只有当三层介质的耦合满足一定条件才可能实现螺旋波的控制,可以通过耦合互补方式实现螺旋波的控制;平面波与低频螺旋波的相互作用可以产生高频螺旋波,导致螺旋波不能被消除;存在优化的驱动宽度,过大或过小的驱动宽度需要增加第一、三层介质的耦合强度.观察到控制结果依赖控制时机的现象.研究结果可用于植入式心脏除颤器的设计.     

Self-sustained target waves in excitable media with only a long-range link

In this paper we investigate spatiotemporal pattern formation in excitable media with only a long-range link. Besides the trivial solutions of spiral patterns, we find the asymptotic self-sustained target waves in the autonomous tissues. The wave source supporting this kind of new pattern is the oscillatory one-dimensional Winfree-loop self-organized under the presence of a long-range link, which is explored by the dominant phase-advanced driving method. Based on this understanding we can effectively regulate the oscillations of excitable media by suitably arranging the long-range link, including construction of self-sustained target waves with controllable period and wave length, or manipulation of system states between different patterns.     

Anchoring of drifting spiral and scroll waves to impermeable inclusions in excitable media

Anchoring of spiral and scroll waves in excitable media has attracted considerable interest in the context of cardiac arrhythmias. Here, by bombarding inclusions with drifting spiral and scroll waves, we explore the forces exerted by inclusions onto an approaching spiral and derive the equations of motion governing spiral dynamics in the vicinity of inclusion. We demonstrate that these forces nonmonotonically depend on distance and can lead to complex behavior: (a)?anchoring to small but circumnavigating larger inclusions; (b)?chirality-dependent anchoring.     

用元胞自动机模型研究二维激发介质中的非线性波

采用Greenberg-Hasting元胞自动机模型研究了激发介质中非线性波的有关性质：在零流边界条件下根据计算机数值模拟研究了行波波速随邻域半径、激发阈值的变化关系,分析得到激发介质的激发条件;同时模拟研究了螺旋波波头轨迹受不应态数和激发阈值的影响并分析产生这些影响的内在微观机理. 关键词： 元胞自动机 激发介质 非线性波     

Resonance pacemakers in excitable media

Chemical waves are initiated in an excitable medium by resonance with local periodic forcing of the excitability. Experiments are carried out with a photosensitive Belousov-Zhabotinsky medium, in which the excitability is varied according to the intensity of the imposed illumination. Complex resonance patterns are exhibited as a function of the amplitude and frequency of the forcing. Local resonance-induced wave initiation transforms the medium globally from a quiescent excitable steady state to a periodic state of successive traveling waves.     

Vulnerability in one-dimensional excitable media

Potentially life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias can be iniated with stimuli timed to occur during the “vulnerable window (VW)”. We defined VW as the time interval between the “conditioning” and “test” stimuli following in sequence, during which the test stimulus response propagates in only one direction. We show that the VW is a generic feature of excitable media and describe the relationship between the properties of an excitable medium and the VW. We present asymptotic results that reveal the sensitivity of the VW to both the propagation velocity of the conditioning wavefront and the recovery process parameters. We also have identified a critical length of medium that must be excited in order to reveal vulnerability. Analytical results are in agreement with numerical studies.     

Selection of spiral waves in excitable media with a phase wave at the wave back

Universal relationships between the medium excitability and the angular velocity and the core radius of rigidly rotating spiral waves in excitable media are derived for situations where the wave front is a trigger wave and the wave back is a phase wave. Two universal limits restricting the region of existence of spiral waves in the parameter space are demonstrated. The predictions of the free-boundary approach are in good quantitative agreement with results from numerical reaction-diffusion simulations performed on the Kessler-Levine model.