Mesoscale and clusters of synchrony in networks of bursting neurons

We study the role of network architecture in the formation of synchronous clusters in synaptically coupled networks of bursting neurons. We give a simple combinatorial algorithm that finds the largest synchronous clusters from the network topology. We demonstrate that networks with a certain degree of internal symmetries are likely to have cluster decompositions with relatively large clusters, leading potentially to cluster synchronization at the mesoscale network level. We also address the asymptotic stability of cluster synchronization in excitatory networks of Hindmarsh-Rose bursting neurons and derive explicit thresholds for the coupling strength that guarantees stable cluster synchronization. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3563581]