A Study of Transversely Deformed Wave Front Solutions of a Special Kind of Reaction-Diffusion Systems

1988 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-404
Author(s):  
Qi An-shen
Author(s):  
J. M. Fraile ◽  
J. Sabina

SynopsisIn this paper, we introduce a new class of solutions of reaction-diffusion systems, termed directional wave front solutions. They have a propagating character and the propagation direction selects some distinguished boundary points on which we can impose boundary conditions. The Neumann and Dirichlet problems on these points are treated here in order to prove some theorems on the existence of directional wave front solutions of small amplitude, and to partially establish their asymptotic behaviour.


We formulate the eikonal equation approximation for travelling waves in excitable reaction-diffusion systems, which have been proposed as models for a large number of biomedical situations. This formulation is particularly suited, in a natural way, to numerical solution by finite difference methods. We show how this solution is independent of the parametric variable used for expressing the eikonal equation, and how a reduction of dimensionality implies a major saving over the time taken to solve the original reaction-diffusion system. Neumann boundary conditions on reactants in the original system translate into a geometric constraint on the wave boundary itself. We show how this leads to geometrically stable stationary wave boundaries in appropriately shaped non-convex domains. This analytical prediction is verified by numerical solution of the eikonal equation on a domain which supports geometrically stable stationary wave boundary configurations. We show how the concepts of geometrical stability and wave-front stability relate to a problem where a bi-stable reaction-diffusion system has a stable stationary wave-front configuration.


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