Control of spiral-wave dynamics in active media by periodic modulation of excitability

ABSTRACT EXCITABLE media exhibit a wide variety of geometrically complex spatio-temporal patterns, perhaps the most striking of which are rotating spiral waves. Spiral waves have now been

observed in many excitable systems, including heart muscle1, aggregating slime-mould cells2, retinae3, CO oxidation on platinum4 and oscillatory chemical systems such as the

Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction5,6. In the last case, the spiral cores trace out circular or hypocycloidal trajectories, depending on the specific reaction conditions7–9. In addition, if

the excitability of the BZ reaction is light-sensitive10–13, constant illumination has been shown to influence the dynamics of spiral waves14,15. Here we investigate the effect of

illumination that is periodically modulated in time. We find that, for a single set of reaction conditions, the motion of the spiral cores can be forced to describe a wide range of open and

closed hypocycloidal trajectories, in phase with the applied modulation frequency. Numerical simulations using a modified version of the Oregonator model16,17 of the BZ reaction reproduce

this behaviour. We suggest that the modulation of excitability with weak external forces might be used as a means for controlling the dynamics of other excitable media. Access through your

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INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Max-Planck-Institut für molekulare Physiologie, Rheinlanddamm 201, D-44139, Dortmund, 1, Germany Oliver Steinbock, Vladimir Zykov & Stefan C.

Müller * Institute of Control Sciences, Moscow, Russia Vladimir Zykov Authors * Oliver Steinbock View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Vladimir Zykov View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Stefan C. Müller View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Steinbock, O., Zykov, V. & Müller, S. Control of spiral-wave dynamics in active media

by periodic modulation of excitability. _Nature_ 366, 322–324 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/366322a0 Download citation * Received: 13 May 1993 * Accepted: 01 October 1993 * Issue Date: 25

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