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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 30: Posters II

DY 30.36: Poster

Donnerstag, 25. März 2010, 16:00–18:00, Poster C

Synchronization of co-rotating scroll waves — •Dennis Kupitz and Marcus Hauser — Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Abteilung Biophysik, Institut für Experimentelle Physik, Universitätsplatz 2, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany

Scroll waves are the three-dimensional counterparts of spiral waves occurring in excitable media. Single scroll waves may undergo a series of instabilities that play an important role in the formation of cardiac arrhythmias, like ventricular tachycardia. While the dynamics of single scroll waves have attracted some experimental effort, the interaction of scroll waves has so far received much less attention.

We present an experimental study of the interaction of two co-rotating, meandering scroll waves. They were created in a Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction medium and observed by optical tomography with a parallel beam technique. The organizing centres of the scrolls, the so-called filaments, were originally straight, and with time deformed to a zig-zag shape. The two filaments interact leading to a synchronization of the dynamics of the scroll waves, which is accompanied by the development of a pronounced twist along the scroll waves. The synchronization yields a stabilized collective motion of the two scroll waves.