Boundary-driven delayed-feedback control of spatiotemporal dynamics in excitable media

TL;DR

This paper introduces a boundary-driven delayed-feedback control method that stabilizes chaotic spiral waves in excitable media, offering potential new strategies for controlling life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias.

Contribution

The study reveals a novel boundary-driven mechanism for suppressing spiral wave chaos, supported by a reduced model linking boundary heterogeneities and delayed feedback to stabilization.

Findings

Boundary heterogeneities induce a pinning-unpinning transition.

Reduced 2D model explains stabilization via decreased excitability and delayed feedback.

Method offers a new approach to arrhythmia control.

Abstract

Scroll-wave instabilities in excitable domains are central to life-threatening arrhythmias, yet practical methods to stabilize these dynamics remain limited. Here, we investigate the effects of boundary layer heterogeneities in the spatiotemporal dynamics of a quasi-2D semidiscrete excitable model. We reveal that a novel boundary-driven mechanism suppresses meandering and chaotic spiral dynamics. We show how the strength of the heterogeneities mediates the emergence of this regulation through a pinning-unpinning-like transition. We derive a reduced 2D model and find that a decrease in bulk excitability and a boundary-driven delayed-feedback underlie the stabilization. Our results may point to alternative methods to control arrhythmias.