Autowave

Autowaves are self-supporting non-linear waves in active media (i.e. those that provide distributed energy sources). The term is generally used in processes where the waves carry relatively low energy, which is necessary for synchronization or switching the active medium. Autowaves are self-supporting non-linear waves in active media (i.e. those that provide distributed energy sources). The term is generally used in processes where the waves carry relatively low energy, which is necessary for synchronization or switching the active medium. In 1980, the Soviet scientists G.R. Ivanitsky, V.I. Krinsky, A.N. Zaikin, A.M. Zhabotinsky, B.P. Belousov became winners of the highest state award of the USSR, Lenin Prize 'for the discovery of a new class of autowave processes and the study of them in disturbance of stability of the distributed excitable systems.' The first who studied actively the self-oscillations was Academician AA Andronov, and the term 'auto-oscillations' in Russian terminology was introduced by AA Andronov in 1928. His followers from Lobachevsky University further contributed greatly to the development of autowave theory. The simplest autowave equations describing combustion processes have been studied by A.N. Kolmogorov, I.E. Petrovsky, N.S. Piskunov in 1937., as well as by Ya.B. Zel'dovich и D.A. Frank-Kamenetsky in 1938. The classical axiomatic model with autowaves in myocardium was published in 1946 by Norbert Wiener and Arturo Rosenblueth. During 1970-80, major efforts to study autowaves were concentrated in the Institute of Biological Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, located in the suburban town Pushchino, near Moscow. It was here, under the guidance of V.I.Krinsky, such world-famous now experts in the field of the autowave researches as A.V.Panfilov, I.R.Efimov, R.R.Aliev, K.I. Agladze, O.A.Mornev, M.A.Tsyganov were educated and trained. V.V.Biktashev, Yu.E. Elkin, A.V. Moskalenko gained their experience with the autowave theory also in Pushchino, in the neighboring Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology, under the guidance of E.E.Shnoll. The term 'autowaves' was proposed, probably, on the analogy of previously 'auto-oscillations'. Almost immediately after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, many of these Russian scientists left their native country for working in foreign institutions, where they still continue their studies of autowaves. In particular, E.R.Efimov is developing the theory of virtual electrode, which describes some effects occurring during defibrillation. Among other notable scientists, who are engaged in these investigation, there are A.N. Zaikin and E.E.Shnoll (autowaves and bifurcation memory in the blood coagulation system); A.Yu. Loskutov (general autowave theory as well as dynamic chaos in autowaves); V.G. Yakhno (general autowave theory as well as connections between autowaves and process of thinking); K.I. Agladze (autowaves in chemical media); V.N.Biktashev (general autowave theory as well as different sorts of autowave drift); O.A.Mornev (general autowave theory); M.A.Tsyganov (the role of autowave in population dynamics); Yu.E. Elkin, A.V. Moskalenko, (bifurcation memory in a model of cardiac tissue).