On interplay between excitability and geometry

Abstract

Excitability is an intrinsic feature of a living matter. A commonly accepted feature of an excitable medium is that a local excitation leads to a propagation of circular or spiral excitation wave-fronts. This is indeed the case in fully excitable medium. However, with a decrease of an excitability localised wave-fragments emerge and propagate ballistically. Using FitzhHugh–Nagumo model we numerically study how excitation wave-fronts behave in a geometrically constrained medium and how the wave-fronts explore a random planar graph. We uncover how excitability controls propagation of excitation in angled branches, influences arrest of excitation entering a sudden expansion, and determines patterns of traversing of a random planar graph by an excitation waves.