LARGE PULSATING WAVES IN A ONE-DIMENSIONAL EXCITABLE MEDIUM

The term ''pulsating wave' has been introduced by Kerner and Osipov fo r an unmoving wave whose shape changes periodically. Such waves are kn own to occur in reaction-diffusion systems where stationary waves beco me unstable. The present paper investigates numerically the properties of pulsating waves in a modified FitzHugh-Nagumo model. In the range of the model parameters the pulsating waves have been shown to appear in the intermediate region between the ones where stationary and propa gating waves occur. The mechanisms of the ''pulsations'' are discussed in terms of the wave front and the wave back dynamics.