Organizing centers in a cellular excitable medium (Q1068746)

Excitable media provide much of the subject-matter of physiology, especially of electrophysiology. We simulate excitability in a cubical three-dimensional grid of discrete cells. Topologically distinct organizing centers for self-sustaining rhythmic activity (at period 4) arise from suitable initial conditions. Two are shown: the scroll ring and the linked pair of twisted scroll rings. The first has already been observed in a chemically excitable reagent and possibly in heart muscle; the second, and others of a predicted ''periodic table of organizing centers'', remain to be observed outside computers.