Excitable behaviors
For researchers in nonlinear system theory and neurophysiology, this offers a new behavioral perspective on excitability, but it is primarily conceptual and lacks concrete results or numbers.
The paper redefines excitability as an input-output behavior of open systems rather than a property of closed dynamical systems, using circuit theory to characterize it via local sensitivity of current-voltage relationships. It suggests new questions for nonlinear system theory inspired by neurophysiology.
This chapter revisits the concept of excitability, a basic system property of neurons. The focus is on excitable systems regarded as behaviors rather than dynamical systems. By this we mean open systems modulated by specific interconnection properties rather than closed systems classified by their parameter ranges. Modeling, analysis, and synthesis questions can be formulated in the classical language of circuit theory. The input-output characterization of excitability is in terms of the local sensitivity of the current-voltage relationship. It suggests the formulation of novel questions for non-linear system theory, inspired by questions from experimental neurophysiology.