Spiral Waves in Bounded Excitable Media

The dynamics of spiral waves interacting with an impermeable boundary of an excitable medium is investigated. Experimental data on spiral waves rotating in a small piece of an excitable medium are presented. A wide variety of spatio-temporal scenarios of the spiral wave placed into a small disk is observed in computer simulations using a reaction-diffusion system. A simplified kinematical model describing wave fronts that move in the vicinity of an impermeable boundary is elaborated and used to analyze both stationary and nonstationary dynamic regimes.