title: Dynamics of spiral pairs induced by unidirectional propagating pulses.
abstract: The dynamics of unidirectionally propagating pulses in a two-dimensional uniform excitable reaction-diffusion medium is investigated. It is shown that under weak diffusion coupling between medium points such a pulse can evolve into a pair of counter-rotating spirals (spiral pair). We analyze the drift of such a pair and examine the collisions between several drifting pairs. It is demonstrated that collisions can result in a special type of reflection or, alternatively, in new types of complex stationary spiral structures. A possible application of these findings for the diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmias is suggested.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rabinovitch
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gutman
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Biton
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Aviram
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Rosenbaum
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D016880:Anisotropy; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular