Propagation of bursting oscillations

Abstract

We investigate a system of partial differential equations of reaction–diffusion type which displays propagation of bursting oscillations. This system represents the time evolution of an assembly of cells constituted by a small nucleus of bursting cells near the origin immersed in the middle of excitable cells. We show that this system displays a global attractor in an appropriated functional space. Numerical simulations show the existence in this attractor of recurrent solutions which are waves propagating from the central source. The propagation seems possible if the excitability of the neighbouring cells is above some threshold.