Model of a spatially inhomogeneous one-dimensional active medium

We investigate the dynamics of one-dimensional discrete models of a one-component active medium analytically. The models represent spatially inhomogeneous diffusively concatenated systems of one-dimensional piecewise-continuous maps. The discontinuities (the defects) are interpreted as the differences in the parameters of the maps constituting the model. Two classes of defects are considered: spatially periodic defects and localized defects. The area of regular dynamics in the space of the parameters is estimated analytically. For the model with a periodic inhomogeneity, an exact analytic partition into domains with regular and with chaotic types of behavior is found. Numerical results are obtained for the model with a single defect. The possibility of the occurrence of each behavior type for the system as a whole is investigated.