Mean-field limit of generalized Hawkes processes

Abstract: We generalize multivariate Hawkes processes mainly by including a dependence with respect to the age of the process, i.e. the delay since the last point. Within this class, we investigate the limit behaviour, when n goes to infinity, of a system of n mean-field interacting age-dependent Hawkes processes. We prove that such a system can be approximated by independent and identically distributed age dependent point processes interacting with their own mean intensity. This result generalizes the study performed by Delattre, Fournier and Hoffmann (2015). In continuity with the work of Chevallier et al. (2015), the second goal of this paper is to give a proper link between these generalized Hawkes processes as microscopic models of individual neurons and the age-structured system of partial differential equations introduced by Pakdaman, Perthame and Salort (2010) as macroscopic model of neurons.