Apex of a V-shaped cut field acts as a pacemaker on an oscillatory system

The generation and propagation of chemical waves in the Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction were investigated using a cation-exchange membrane embedded with a metal catalyst as a 2-dimensional oscillatory/active field. We found that a target pattern is generated from the top of a V-shape, indicating that the apex on the boundary between active and passive fields behaves as a pacemaker. A Plausible mechanism for this phenomenon is proposed based on a reaction–diffusion equation.