Synchronised firing induced by network dynamics in excitable systems

Abstract: We study the collective dynamics of an ensemble of coupled identical FitzHugh--Nagumo elements in their excitable regime. We show that collective firing, where all the elements perform their individual firing cycle synchronously, can be induced by random changes in the interaction pattern. Specifically, on a sparse evolving network where, at any time, each element is connected with at most one partner, collective firing occurs for intermediate values of the rewiring frequency. Thus, network dynamics can replace noise and connectivity in inducing this kind of self-organised behaviour in highly disconnected systems which, otherwise, wouldn't allow for the spreading of coherent evolution.