title: Self-organized pacemakers and bistability of pulses in an excitable medium.
abstract: Pattern formation in an excitable medium described by a three-component reaction-diffusion system is investigated. Our focus is on stable self-organized pacemakers which give rise to spatially extended target patterns. Bistability of pulse solutions in the excitable regime is also reported, and interactions of the different pulses with each other and the pacemaker are studied. Self-organized pacemakers are created by a suitable perturbation from the steady state or through interaction of pulses. Bound states of one-dimensional pacemakers and phase flips are also observed.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC/INTA), Ctra de Ajalvir km. 4, 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain. stichm@inta.es
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stich
authors.forename: Alexander S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Mikhailov
authors.forename: Yoshiki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kuramoto