title: Standing waves in the FitzHugh-Nagumo model of cardiac electrical activity.
abstract: When excitable media are submitted to appropriate time dependent boundary conditions, a standing wavelike pattern can be observed in the system, as shown in recent experiments. In the present analysis, the physical mechanism explaining the occurrence of such space-time patterns is shown to be a competition between Ohmic diffusion and an action potential propagation across the system, coupled with the existence of refractory states for excitable media.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Physique B5a, Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août 17, B-4000 Liège 1, Belgium. PC.Dauby@ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Dauby
authors.forename: Th
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Desaive
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Croisier
authors.forename: Ph
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kolh
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*