Mathematical models and numerical methods for simulating the electrical activity of the heart

Our aim is to develop numerical methods and software that enable increased understanding of elctrophysiology of the heart. The project will be a part of a larger project named Cardiac Computations (CC) at the Scientific Computing Department at Simula Rese arch Laboratory. The CC-project is concerned with computing the electrical activity of the human heart and how this process generates ECG signals on the surface of the body. The PhD-project wil focus on mathematical and numerical analysis of the model. Simplified versions will be studied first, and then subsequently more realistic models. The goal is to gain a better mathematical understanding of the problem and to construct better numerical algorithms based on this insight. The postdoctoral-project will focus on model development and application of the simulator. One application will be to investigate the possibility of determining the size and location of an infarction based only on surface potential. Another topic will be to look at the trade off between model accuracy and speed. It is likely that in many applications a simplified model will be sufficient, whereas for other applications the current model must be extended further.