Is the brain really operating at a critical point? We study the non-equilibrium properties of a neural network which models the dynamics of the neocortex and argue for optimal quasi-critical dynamics on the Widom line where the correlation length is maximal. We simulate the network and introduce an analytical mean-field approximation, characterize the non-equilibrium phase transition, and present a non-equilibrium phase diagram, which shows that in addition to an ordered and disordered phase, the system exhibits a quasiperiodic phase corresponding to synchronous activity in simulations which may be related to the pathological synchronization associated with epilepsy.
@article{arxiv.1405.6232,
title = {Quasi-Critical Brain Dynamics on a Non-Equilibrium Widom Line},
author = {Rashid V. Williams-Garcia and Mark Moore and John M. Beggs and Gerardo Ortiz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1405.6232},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Submitted to Physical Review Letters on March 29, 2014. Transferred to Physical Review E on August 4, 2014