Wave propagation in a medium with disordered excitability

The effect of quenched disorder on the propagation of autowaves in excitable media is studied both experimentally and numerically in relation to the light-sensitive Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. The spatial disorder is introduced through a random distribution with two different levels of transmitta...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Sendiña-Nadal, I., Pérez Muñuzuri, Alberto, Vives, D., Pérez Muñuzuri, Vicente, Casademunt, Jaume, Ramírez de la Piscina Millán, Laureano|||0000-0003-4019-245X, Sancho, Jose Maria, Sagués Mestre, Francesc
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:1998
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/16977
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/16977
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Waves
Chemical waves
Disorder
Excitable media
Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction
Ones
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Física::Mecànica quàntica
Descripción
Sumario:The effect of quenched disorder on the propagation of autowaves in excitable media is studied both experimentally and numerically in relation to the light-sensitive Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. The spatial disorder is introduced through a random distribution with two different levels of transmittance. In one dimension the (time-averaged) wave speed is smaller than the corresponding to a homogeneous medium with the mean excitability. Contrarily, in two dimensions the velocity increases due to the roughening of the front. Results are interpreted using kinematic and scaling arguments. In particular, for d ­ 2 we verify a theoretical prediction of a power-law dependence for the relative change of the propagation speed on the disorder amplitude.