Entrainment and resonance of spiral waves in active media with periodically modulated excitability

✍ Scribed by M. Braune; A. Schrader; H. Engel

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 513 KB
• Volume: 222
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-2614
• DOI: 10.1016/0009-2614(94)87075-6

✦ Synopsis

We study frequency locking and resonance of spiral waves in an active medium subjected to periodic forcing with adjustable frequency. The experiments are carried out with a modified Belousov-Zhabotinsky system whose excitability is light-sensitive. In the meander regime of compound rotation we find entrainment bands if the sum of the two basic frequencies determining the dynamics of the spiral tip is a rational multiple of the modulation frequency. We observe resonance if the ratio between the forcing period and the mean excitation period outside of the pattern is equal to one, two, etc. The experimental results are in qualitative agreement with data of numerical simulations obtained using a two-variable Oregonator scheme. This model takes account of an additional flow of the inhibitor bromide produced photochemically.