Neural Field Equations and Hawkes processes: long-term stability of traveling wave profiles in the neutral case

TL;DR

This paper studies the long-term stability of traveling wave solutions in neural field equations modeled by Hawkes processes, showing that in the neutral case the wave position behaves like Brownian motion over time.

Contribution

It establishes the long-time stability of traveling wave profiles in neural field equations driven by Hawkes processes, specifically in the neutral case where wave speed is zero.

Findings

Traveling wave profiles are stable over long times in the neutral case.

Wave positions exhibit Brownian motion behavior on a diffusive time scale.

Results extend to activity-based neural field equations.

Abstract

We consider the long-time behavior of a population of interacting Hawkes processes on the real line, with spatial extension. The large population behavior of the system is governed by the standard Voltage-based Neural Field Equation (NFE). We prove long-time stability of the system w.r.t. traveling wave solutions for the NFE on a diffusive time scale, in the neutral case, that is when the speed of the traveling wave solution is zero: the position of the traveling wave profile becomes essentially Brownian on a diffusive time scale. We borrow here from the seminal work of Chevallier, Duarte, L\''ocherbach and Ost concerning the approximation of NFE by Hawkes processes, the existence result of traveling waves of Ermentrout and McLeod and from the stability result of the traveling wave profile from Lang and Stannat. We provide also similar results concerning the activity based NFE.