Wave propagation in a medium with disordered excitability

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Document typeArticle
Defense date1998-06-30
PublisherAmerican Physical Society
Rights accessOpen Access
Abstract
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.
CitationSendina-Nadal, I.; Pérez-Muñuzuri, A.P.; Vives, D.; Pérez-Muñuzuri, V.; Casademunt, J.; Ramírez-Piscina, L.; Sancho, J.M.; Sagués, F. "Wave propagation in a medium with disordered excitability". Physical Review Letters, 1998, vol. 80, núm. 24, p.5437-5440. ISSN:0031-9007
ISSN0031-9007
Publisher versionhttp://prl.aps.org/pdf/PRL/v80/i24/p5437_1
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