title: Transient localized patterns in noise-driven reaction-diffusion systems.
abstract: Noise can induce excitable systems to make time-limited transitions between quiescent and active states. Here we investigate the possibility that these transitions occur locally in a spatially extended medium, leading to the occurrence of spatiotemporal patches of activation. We show that this can in fact occur in a parameter range such that there exist (in general unstable) localized solutions of the governing deterministic reaction-diffusion equations. Our work is motivated by a recent biological example showing transiently excited cell membrane regions.
authors.affiliation: Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0319, USA.
authors.forename: Inbal
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hecht
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Kessler
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Levine
mesh_terms: D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000494:pharmacology; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D004058:Diffusion; D007700:Kinetics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000242:Cyclic AMP