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    Cardiac contraction induces discordant alternans and localized block
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2014) Radszuweit, Markus; Alvarez-Lacalle, Enrique; Bär, Markus; Echebarria, Blas
    In this paper we use a simplified model of cardiac excitation-contraction coupling to study the effect of tissue deformation on the dynamics of alternans, i.e. alternations in the duration of the cardiac action potential, that occur at fast pacing rates and are known to be pro-arrhythmic. We show that small stretch-activated currents can produce large effects and cause a transition from in-phase to off-phase alternations (i.e. from concordant to discordant alternans) and to conduction blocks. We demonstrate numerically and analytically that this effect is the result of a generic change in the slope of the conduction velocity restitution curve due to electromechanical coupling. Thus, excitation-contraction coupling can potentially play a relevant role in the transition to reentry and fibrillation.
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    Local control of globally competing patterns in coupled Swift-Hohenberg equations
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2017) Becker, Maximilian; Frenzel, Thomas; Niedermayer, Thomas; Reichelt, Sina; Mielke, Alexander; Bär, Markus
    We present analytical and numerical investigations of two anti-symmetrically coupled 1D Swift-Hohenberg equations (SHEs) with cubic nonlinearities. The SHE provides a generic formulation for pattern formation at a characteristic length scale. A linear stability analysis of the homogeneous state reveals a wave instability in addition to the usual Turing instability of uncoupled SHEs. We performed weakly nonlinear analysis in the vicinity of the codimension-two point of the Turingwave instability, resulting in a set of coupled amplitude equations for the Turing pattern as well as left and right traveling waves. In particular, these complex Ginzburg-Landau-type equations predict two major things: there exists a parameter regime where multiple different patterns are stable with respect to each other; and that the amplitudes of different patterns interact by local mutual suppression. In consequence, different patterns can coexist in distinct spatial regions, separated by localized interfaces. We identified specific mechanisms for controlling the position of these interfaces, which distinguish what kinds of patterns the interface connects and thus allow for global pattern selection. Extensive simulations of the original SHEs confirm our results.