Spectral theory for population density dynamics of spiking neurons with refractoriness

Incorporating an absolute refractory period into the population density approach for spiking neurons remains an open problem, despite evidence that refractoriness can strongly affect nonlinear transfer functions and network stability.

We develop a rigorous operator-theoretic framework for neuronal population dynamics with a finite refractory time by augmenting the state space to include refractory history and formulating the problem as a non-self-adjoint boundary eigenvalue problem for the Fokker-Planck operator.

This yields a complete spectral characterization of the generator, proves dissipativity and the existence of a contraction semigroup, and identifies defective eigenvalues as exceptional points where oscillatory modes emerge from coalescing relaxational modes.

Within the framework of linear response theory, we also derive an exact transfer function that accounts for boundary conditions modulated by external input, correcting previous heuristic derivations and revealing additional threshold-noise contributions.

Using this transfer function under a mean-field approximation, we further show that refractoriness in populations of interacting neurons can facilitate the onset of limit cycles, that is, stable oscillations in the firing rate.

These results provide a rigorous foundation for spectral decomposition methods in computational neuroscience, opening the way to their further rigorous mathematical analysis.