A messenger wave and synchronization

What is it about?

Researchers are studying spiral waves in BZ reactions-diffusion system from last 30 years in the context of human cardiac system. Though the main focus was to control the dynamics, this article study collective behaviour, means focusing on more than one spiral together. Authors carried out their experiment in BZ Chemical reaction-diffusion system which can generate spiral patterns. One may ask why did they consider that specific reaction and that very specific pattern? The reason is, this reaction can generate waves that can sustain a long time (like the way our heart beats) and the movement of spiral pattern in this system can tell about the dynamics of the abnormal cardiac waves. Synchronization is very common in nature and also a common phenomenon of collective dynamics, where two oscillators move simultaneously hand-in-hand when they are communicating. This study show how two separated spirals communicate with another wave and then get synchronized. Authors introduced a third wave and a place to communicate the separated ones with this third wave, and observed they synchronized after the communication is built. They call this third wave a messenger wave as it sends information to the separated waves.

Featured Image

Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash

Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Every wave carries some information. Information transfer is very important in communication. This study achieved to show the messaging or signaling capability of spiral waves in a reaction diffusion system.

Perspectives