Spiral Meandering

The complex, so called meandering, dynamics of spiral waves in excitable media is examined from the point of view of bifurcation theory. A computational bifurcation analysis is made of spiral dynamics. It is shown that spiral meandering is organized in parameter space around a codimension-two point where a Hopf bifurcation from rotating waves interacts with symmetries on the plane. A simple model of such a symmetric bifurcation then leads to a very simple picture for the wealth of spiral behavior.