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Updated: Oct 4, 2025

Real-time Electrophysiology: Using Closed-loop Protocols to Probe Neuronal Dynamics and Beyond
Published on: June 24, 2015
Kuramoto model for populations of quadratic integrate-and-fire neurons with chemical and electrical coupling
Pau Clusella1, Bastian Pietras2, Ernest Montbrió3
1Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
Abstract:
We derive the Kuramoto model (KM) corresponding to a population of weakly coupled, nearly identical quadratic integrate-and-fire (QIF) neurons with both electrical and chemical coupling. The ratio of chemical to electrical coupling determines the phase lag of the characteristic sine coupling function of the KM and critically determines the synchronization properties of the network. We apply our results to uncover the presence of chimera states in two coupled populations of identical QIF neurons. We find that the presence of both electrical and chemical coupling is a necessary condition for chimera states to exist. Finally, we numerically demonstrate that chimera states gradually disappear as coupling strengths cease to be weak.
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