Unpinning of a Vortex in a Chemical Excitable Medium

Wave-train-induced termination of weakly anchored vortices in excitable media.

A free vortex in excitable media can be displaced and removed by a wave train. However, simple physical arguments suggest that vortices anchored to large inexcitable obstacles cannot be removed similarly. We show that unpinning of vortices attached to obstacles smaller than the core radius of the free vortex is possible through pacing. The wave-train frequency necessary for unpinning increases ...

Electric-field-controlled unpinning of scroll waves.

Three-dimensional excitation vortices exist in systems such as chemical reactions and the human heart. Their one-dimensional rotation backbone can pin to unexcitable heterogeneities, which greatly affect the structure, dynamics, and lifetime of the vortex. In experiments with the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, we demonstrate vortex unpinning from a pair of inert and impermeable spheres using ex...

Far field pacing supersedes anti-tachycardia pacing in a generic model of excitable media

Removing anchored spirals from obstacles is an important step in terminating cardiac arrhythmia. Conventional anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP) has this ability, but only under very restrictive conditions. In a generic model of excitable media, we demonstrate that for unpinning spiral waves from obstacles this profound limitation of ATP can be overcome by far field pacing (FFP). More specifically, ...

Wave-train induced unpinning of weakly anchored vortices in excitable media

Alain Pumir, Sitabhra Sinha, S. Sridhar, Médéric Argentina, Marcel Hörning, Simonetta Filippi, Christian Cherubini, Stefan Luther and Valentin Krinsky Laboratoire de Physique, ENS de Lyon and CNRS, 46 Allée d’Italie, 69007, Lyon, France. Lab J. A. Dieudonné, Université de Nice and CNRS, Parc Valrose, F-06108 Nice Cedex, France. The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, CIT Campus, Taramani, Chenn...

Diffusion-induced Vortex Filament Instability in 3-Dimensional Excitable Media