Criticality in Alzheimer's and healthy brains: insights from phase-ordering

Criticality, observed during second-order phase transitions, is an emergent phenomenon. The brain operates near criticality where complex systems exhibit high correlations. As a system approaches criticality, it develops "domain"-like regions with competing phases and increased spatio-temporal correlations that diverge. The dynamics of these domains depend on the system's proximity to criticality. This study explores the differences in the proximity to criticality of Alzheimer's-afflicted and cognitively normal brains through the use of a spin-lattice model derived from resting-state fMRI data and investigates the type of criticality found in the human brain - whether it is of the Ising class or something more complex. The temporal correlations in both groups display a stretched exponential nature, indicating closer alignment with the criticality of the spin-glass class rather than the Ising class. Longer relaxation times observed in cognitively normal subjects suggest increased proximity to the phase boundary. The weak distinction observed in the spatial characteristics related to proximity to criticality might once more point to a spin-glass scenario, necessitating nuanced order parameters to distinguish between phase-ordering in Alzheimer's and cognitively normal brains.