Cluster synchronization of spiking induced by noise and interaction delays in homogenous neuronal ensembles

Properties of spontaneously formed clusters of synchronous dynamics in a structureless network of noisy excitable neurons connected via delayed diffusive couplings are studied in detail. Several tools have been applied to characterize the synchronization clusters and to study their dependence on the neuronal and the synaptic parameters. Qualitative explanation of the cluster formation is discussed. The interplay between the noise, the interaction time-delay and the excitable character of the neuronal dynamics is shown to be necessary and sufficient for the occurrence of the synchronization clusters. We have found the two-cluster partitions where neurons are firmly bound to their subsets, as well as the three-cluster ones, which are dynamical by nature. The former turn out to be stable under small disparity of the intrinsic neuronal parameters and the heterogeneity in the synaptic connectivity patterns. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4753919]