Quantitative and qualitative analysis of asynchronous neural activity

The activity of a sparse network of leaky integrate-and-fire neurons is carefully revisited with reference to a regime of bona fide asynchronous dynamics. The study is preceded by a finite-size scaling analysis, carried out to identify a setup where collective synchronization is negligible. The comparison between quenched and annealed networks reveals the emergence of substantial differences when the coupling strength is increased, via a scenario somehow reminiscent of a phase transition. For sufficiently strong synaptic coupling, quenched networks exhibit a highly bursting neural activity, well reproduced by a self-consistent approach, based on the assumption that the input synaptic current is the superposition of independent renewal processes. The distribution of interspike intervals turns out to be relatively long-tailed; a crucial feature required for the self-sustainment of the bursting activity in a regime where neurons operate, on average, (much) below threshold. A semiquantitative analogy with Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes helps validate this interpretation. Finally, an alternative explanation in terms of Poisson processes is offered under the additional assumption of mutual correlations among excitatory and inhibitory spikes.