Spiral wave dynamics in oscillatory inhomogeneous media

The effect of a long length scale static inhomogeneity on spiral wave dynam ics is studied in the two-dimensional complex Ginzburg-Landau equation. We find that the inhomogeneity leads to the formation of a dominant spiral dom ain that suppresses other spiral domains, and that the spiral vortices slow ly drift in the presence of an inhomogeneity with a velocity that is propor tional to the local parameter gradients. We derive an expression for the sp iral vortex drift velocity and present examples of both fixed point and lim it cycle attractors of the spiral vortices.