31 research outputs found
Wave trains, self-oscillations and synchronization in discrete media
We study wave propagation in networks of coupled cells which can behave as
excitable or self-oscillatory media. For excitable media, an asymptotic
construction of wave trains is presented. This construction predicts their
shape and speed, as well as the critical coupling and the critical separation
of time scales for propagation failure. It describes stable wave train
generation by repeated firing at a boundary. In self-oscillatory media, wave
trains persist but synchronization phenomena arise. An equation describing the
evolution of the oscillator phases is derived.Comment: to appear in Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomen
Lattice Gas Automata for Reactive Systems
Reactive lattice gas automata provide a microscopic approachto the dynamics
of spatially-distributed reacting systems. After introducing the subject within
the wider framework of lattice gas automata (LGA) as a microscopic approach to
the phenomenology of macroscopic systems, we describe the reactive LGA in terms
of a simple physical picture to show how an automaton can be constructed to
capture the essentials of a reactive molecular dynamics scheme. The statistical
mechanical theory of the automaton is then developed for diffusive transport
and for reactive processes, and a general algorithm is presented for reactive
LGA. The method is illustrated by considering applications to bistable and
excitable media, oscillatory behavior in reactive systems, chemical chaos and
pattern formation triggered by Turing bifurcations. The reactive lattice gas
scheme is contrasted with related cellular automaton methods and the paper
concludes with a discussion of future perspectives.Comment: to appear in PHYSICS REPORTS, 81 revtex pages; uuencoded gziped
postscript file; figures available from [email protected] or
[email protected]
Streaming instability of slime mold amoebae: An analytical model
During the aggregation of amoebae of the cellular slime mould Dictyostelium, the interaction of chemical waves of the signaling molecule cAMP with cAMP-directed cell movement causes the breakup of a uniform cell layer into branching patterns of cell streams. Recent numerical and experimental investigations emphasize the pivotal role of the cell-density dependence of the chemical wave speed for the occurrence of the streaming instability. A simple, analytically tractable, model of Dictyostelium aggregation is developed to test this idea. The interaction of cAMP waves with cAMP-directed cell movement is studied in the form of coupled dynamics of wave front geometries and cell density. Comparing the resulting explicit instability criterion and dispersion relation for cell streaming with the previous findings of model simulations and numerical stability analyses, a unifying interpretation of the streaming instability as a cAMP wave-driven chemotactic instability is proposed