A discrete time neural network model with spiking neuronsRigorous results on the spontaneous dynamics

We derive rigorous results describing the asymptotic dynamics of a discrete time model of spiking neurons introduced in Soula et al. (Neural Comput. 18, 1, 2006). Using symbolic dynamic techniques we show how the dynamics of membrane potential has a one to one correspondence with sequences of spikes patterns (“raster plots”). Moreover, though the dynamics is generically periodic, it has a weak form of initial conditions sensitivity due to the presence of a sharp threshold in the model definition. As a consequence, the model exhibits a dynamical regime indistinguishable from chaos in numerical experiments.