Pattern deformation and annihilation in two-dimensional excitable media in oscillatory domains

The effects of oscillatory domains on the dynamics of the FitzHugh–Nagumo equation in two dimensions is investigated as a function of the amplitude and frequency of the boundary motion. It is shown that the moving-boundary problem introduces anisotropy through the diffusion terms and an advection-like term in the direction of the boundary motion. If the advection-like term is neglected, it is shown that spiral wave solutions of the FitzHugh–Nagumo equation are robust and do not lose their integrity under the anisotropic effects induced by the moving domain, albeit undergo stretching and compression in the direction of the boundary motion. However, when the advection-like terms are accounted for, the anisotropy and stretching/compression of the initial spiral wave result in a homogeneous state at high frequencies, and the time required to achieve such a uniformity is mainly a function of the amplitude of the boundary motion. For frequencies comparable to that of the spiral wave in a fixed domain, it is shown that the spiral wave preserves its integrity for low amplitudes of the boundary motion and is annihilated at high amplitudes.