Critical fronts in initiation of excitation waves

I. Idris, V. N. Biktashev

Submitted to PRL 2007/03/01. Resubmitted to PRE 2007/05/07. Accepted to PRE 2007/06/19. Published: PRE 76(2): 021906, 2007/08/07. .

We consider the problem of initiation of propagating wave in a one-dimensional excitable fiber. In the FitzHugh-Nagumo theory, the key role is played by "critical nucleus" and "critical pulse" solutions whose (center-)stable manifold is the threshold surface separating initial conditions leading to propagation and those leading to decay. We present evidence that in cardiac excitation models, this role is played by "critical front" solutions.