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Modeling a neuronal network as coupled spin–boson systems and seizure as a fluorescence- to superradiance-like phase transition

by Hugo Sanchez and Miled H. Y. Moussa

Submission summary

Authors (as registered SciPost users):

Hugo Sanchez

Abstract

Abstract Since the pioneering work of Onuchic, Beratan, and Hopfield (OBH) [Onuchic, J. N. et al. The Journal of Physical Chemistry, v. 90, n. 16, p. 3707-3721, 1986.], it has been well established that electron transfer in chemical reactions can be modeled by the decaying probability of excitation dynamics in the spin–boson system. In analogy to the OBH framework, we propose a model wherein electric current generation in a neuron is equally described through population inversion in a spin–boson system. Building on this connection, we extend our approach to model the collective firing activity characteristic of seizures by representing the neuronal network as a set of coupled spin–boson units. We demonstrate that under specific circumstances our model releases electric current in a comb of superpulses which bears similarity with the phenomenon of superradiant radiation emission in atomic optics. Our model seems to be in perfect agreement with the multiple synchronized firings observed in a convulsive seizure. With the normal current transfer regime being the analog to the fluorescence emission in atomic optics, we thus model seizure as a fluorescence- to superradiance-like phase transition. Furthermore, our model also provides us an understanding of the mechanism by which we can disarm seizure, protecting the brain from sequelae resulting from the ictal stage of the process. We finally observe that from the input of experimentally measured and theoretically estimated parameters, our model is able to deliver reasonable results, in accordance with the neuroscience literature, for the rate of energy produced by a neuron in the normal current transfer regime, the energy released per neuron in a 1 minute seizure and the time interval for a single comb of supercurrents.

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• Provide a novel and synergetic link between different research areas.
• Open a new pathway in an existing or a new research direction, with clear potential for multi-pronged follow-up work
• Detail a groundbreaking theoretical/experimental/computational discovery
• Present a breakthrough on a previously-identified and long-standing research stumbling block