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Atrial arrhythmias are the most frequent rhythm disorder in humans and often lead to severe complications such as heart failure and stroke. While different mapping techniques have provided significant information on the electrophysiological processes associated with atrial fibrillation „AF…, the mechanisms underlying its initiation and maintenance remain unclear. Hence the treatment of atrial arrhythmias is still based on empirical considerations. To assist the study of the complex, spatio-temporal dynamics of AF, we developed a realistic-size computer model of human atria. The model geometry is derived from magnetic resonance imaging „MRI… images of the human heart. By representing the domain as a threedimensional monolayer, the computational load is sufficiently reduced to allow the simulation of up to 40 s of an arrhythmia. With this model, simulated atrial fibrillation „SAF…, ie, multiple reentrant wavelets …