Spiral waves are a dynamical behavior of excitable media, that is, media in which small changes from the rest state die out and large changes generate oscillatory behavior. Examples of excitable media in biology include the heart, the retina, and calcium waves in various organs, such as the intestine. Chemical systems also exhibit these types of changes and provide a model system for studying how onset and stability of spiral waves are affected by different factors present in biological systems. The chemical reaction will be analyzed both mathematically and computationally. Results should lead to a better understanding of dynamical regime of spiral wave onset and stability in biological systems.
