Noise-induced macroscopic oscillations in a network of synaptically coupled quadratic integrate-and-fire neurons.

Abstract

We consider the effect of small independent local noise on a network of quadratic integrate-and-fire neurons, globally coupled via synaptic pulses of finite width. The Fokker-Planck equation for a network of infinite size is reduced to a low-dimensional system of ordinary differential equations using the recently proposed perturbation theory based on circular cumulants. A bifurcation analysis of the reduced equations is performed, and areas in the parameter space, where the noise causes macroscopic oscillations of the network, are determined. The validity of the reduced equations is verified by comparing their solutions with "exact" solutions of the Fokker-Planck equation, as well as with the results of direct simulation of stochastic microscopic dynamics of a finite-size network.