Winfree Arthur T.
326 BSW, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721.
Chaos. 1991 Oct;1(3):303-334. doi: 10.1063/1.165844.
Spiral waves in diverse excitable media exhibit strikingly variegated behavior. Mechanistic interpretations of excitability in laboratory systems are commonly tested by comparing the wavelength, period, and meander patterns of the model's spiral waves with laboratory observations, but models seem seldom to be rejected by such tests. The reason may be that almost any excitable medium behaves in many respects like almost any other, if its parameters are properly adjusted within a reasonable range. What generalizations can be made about "excitable media" in the absence of more specifications? It would be useful to distinguish such generic features from idiosyncrasies of specific models. The range of behavioral flexibility of the FitzHugh-Nagumo excitable medium is explored by varying two of its parameters and comparing the results with other excitable media to suggest a generic pattern of parameter dependence. The results exhibit the remarkable diversity of rotor behavior in a single model and provide a database for quantitative testing of mathematical generalizations.
不同可兴奋介质中的螺旋波表现出惊人的多样化行为。实验室系统中对兴奋性的机理解释通常是通过将模型螺旋波的波长、周期和曲折模式与实验室观察结果进行比较来检验的，但这些模型似乎很少被此类测试所否定。原因可能是，如果在合理范围内对其参数进行适当调整，几乎任何可兴奋介质在许多方面的行为都与几乎任何其他介质相似。在没有更多具体说明的情况下，对于“可兴奋介质”可以做出哪些概括呢？将此类一般特征与特定模型的特质区分开来会很有用。通过改变FitzHugh-Nagumo可兴奋介质的两个参数，并将结果与其他可兴奋介质进行比较，探索了其行为灵活性的范围，以提出参数依赖性的一般模式。结果展示了单个模型中转子行为的显著多样性，并为数学概括的定量测试提供了一个数据库。
