Command: iaf_psc_alpha

NEST HelpDesk Command Index NEST Quick Reference

Name:
 iaf_psc_alpha - Leaky integrate-and-fire neuron model.

Description:

  iaf_psc_alpha is an implementation of a leaky integrate-and-fire model
  with alpha-function shaped synaptic currents. Thus, synaptic currents
  and the resulting post-synaptic potentials have a finite rise time. 

  The threshold crossing is followed by an absolute refractory period
  during which the membrane potential is clamped to the resting potential.

  The linear subthresold dynamics is integrated by the Exact
  Integration scheme [1]. The neuron dynamics is solved on the time
  grid given by the computation step size. Incoming as well as emitted
  spikes are forced to that grid.  

  An additional state variable and the corresponding differential
  equation represents a piecewise constant external current.

  The general framework for the consistent formulation of systems with
  neuron like dynamics interacting by point events is described in
  [1].  A flow chart can be found in [2].

  Critical tests for the formulation of the neuron model are the
  comparisons of simulation results for different computation step
  sizes. sli/testsuite/nest contains a number of such tests.
  
  The iaf_psc_alpha is the standard model used to check the consistency
  of the nest simulation kernel because it is at the same time complex
  enough to exhibit non-trivial dynamics and simple enough compute
  relevant measures analytically.

Remarks:

  The present implementation uses individual variables for the
  components of the state vector and the non-zero matrix elements of
  the propagator.  Because the propagator is a lower triangular matrix
  no full matrix multiplication needs to be carried out and the
  computation can be done "in place" i.e. no temporary state vector
  object is required.

  The template support of recent C++ compilers enables a more succinct
  formulation without loss of runtime performance already at minimal
  optimization levels. A future version of iaf_psc_alpha will probably
  address the problem of efficient usage of appropriate vector and
  matrix objects.


Parameters:
 

  The following parameters can be set in the status dictionary.

  V_m        double - Membrane potential in mV 
  E_L        double - Resting membrane potential in mV. 
  C_m        double - Capacity of the membrane in pF
  tau_m      double - Membrane time constant in ms.
  t_ref      double - Duration of refractory period in ms. 
  V_th       double - Spike threshold in mV.
  V_reset    double - Reset potential of the membrane in mV.
  tau_syn_ex double - Rise time of the excitatory synaptic alpha function in ms.
  tau_syn_in double - Rise time of the inhibitory synaptic alpha function in ms.
  I_e        double - Constant external input current in pA.
  V_min      double - Absolute lower value for the membrane potential.
 
Note:
  tau_m != tau_syn_{ex,in} is required by the current implementation to avoid a
  degenerate case of the ODE describing the model [1]. For very similar values,
  numerics will be unstable.

References:
  [1] Rotter S & Diesmann M (1999) Exact simulation of time-invariant linear
      systems with applications to neuronal modeling. Biologial Cybernetics
      81:381-402.
  [2] Diesmann M, Gewaltig M-O, Rotter S, & Aertsen A (2001) State space 
      analysis of synchronous spiking in cortical neural networks. 
      Neurocomputing 38-40:565-571.
  [3] Morrison A, Straube S, Plesser H E, & Diesmann M (2006) Exact subthreshold 
      integration with continuous spike times in discrete time neural network 
      simulations. Neural Computation, in press

Sends:
 SpikeEvent

Receives:
 SpikeEvent, CurrentEvent, DataLoggingRequest
FirstVersion:
 September 1999
Author:
  Diesmann, Gewaltig
SeeAlso:iaf_psc_delta iaf_psc_exp iaf_cond_exp
Source:
 /home/abuild/rpmbuild/BUILD/nest-2.4.1/models/iaf_psc_alpha.h

NEST HelpDesk Command Index NEST Quick Reference

© 2000-2010 The NEST Initiative