Excitable dynamics and threshold sets in nonlinear systems

Fronts and pulses in an enzymatic reaction catalyzed by glucose oxidase

Waves and patterns in living systems are often driven by biochemical reactions with enzymes as catalysts and regulators. We present a reaction-diffusion system catalyzed by the enzyme glucose oxidase that exhibits traveling wave patterns in a spatially extended medium. Fronts and pulses propagate as a result of the coupling between the enzyme-catalyzed autocatalytic production and diffusion of hydrogen ions. A mathematical model qualitatively explains the experimental observations.

Thresholds of excitability in three-dimensional dynamical systems

A two-dimensional threshold surface of an excitable system is found as a set of threshold trajectories calculated step by step in cross sections of the phase space. The method leads to a highly nonlinear boundary value problem that can be solved numerically with the use of adaptive multiple shooting and continuation methods. We demonstrate this technique by examining a model of a biochemical oscillator with two positive feedbacks. Generalization to arbitrary dimension is discussed.