CONTROLLING SPIRAL WAVES IN CONFINED GEOMETRIES BY GLOBAL FEEDBACK

The evolution of spiral waves on a circular domain and on a spherical surface is studied by numerical integration of a reaction-diffusion sy stem with a global feedback. It is shown that depending on intensity, sign, and/or time delay in the feedback loop a global coupling can be effectively used either to stabilize the rigid rotation of a spiral wa ve or to completely destroy spiral waves and to suppress self-sustaine d activity in a confined domain or an excitable medium. An explanation of the numerically observed effects is produced by a kinematical mode l of spiral wave propagation.