FORMATION OF STATIONARY DEMARCATION ZONES BETWEEN POPULATION AUTOWAVES PROPAGATING TOWARDS EACH OTHER

Two kinds of autowaves are known to exist in the simplest mathematical models of excitable media: OMEGA and KOMEGA waves. One of the essential differences between them rests in the fact that the OMEGA waves collide whereas the KOMEGA waves do not. In the present paper we show that both OMEGA- and KOMEGA-like waves occur in the essentially more complex population expansion mathematical model. The OMEGA-like waves propagate at higher rates than do the KOMEGA-like ones. Both types of autowaves can carry out transitions from unstable spatial structures into other, stable ones. The results of computer experiments are supported by our experiments in vivo.