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CANCELED DUE TO ILLNESS (A coupla ducks: slow currents, canards, clustering, and weak coupling)

Mathematical Biology

Speaker: Bard Ermentrout, University of Pittsburgh
Location: 1147 MSB
Start time: Wed, Mar 11 2009, 3:10PM

A recent interneuron model by Erisir et al (J. neurophys, 1999) introduces a slow potassium current which at low currents has the effect of producing mixed mode oscillations (MMO). When such neurons are coupled via gap junctions they form clustered states. We analyze this by considering the phase resetting curves of these neurons when in the MMO state and show that complex phase interactions are a natural consequence. We perform an analysis of the local dynamics to show the existence of a folded canard structure which gives restrictions on the parameters for this to occur.

This seminar is cross-listed with the Applied Math Seminar series.