arXiv:2607.16017v1

On large networks of integrate-and-fire neurons with short-term synaptic plasticity

Quentin Cormier, Eva Löcherbach, Valentin Schmutz

math.PR60H1060K3545D0537A3060G55

Paper metadata

Original submission: July 17, 2026
Claimed MSC: 60H10, 60K35, 45D05, 37A30, 60G55
arXiv categories: math.PR
Paper license: arXiv non-exclusive distribution license ↗

Abstract

This work studies the mean-field limit of large networks of interacting stochastic leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neurons subject to short-term synaptic depression (STD). The macroscopic dynamics of this system is governed by a two-dimensional, non-linear McKean-Vlasov equation that couples the evolution of the neurons' membrane potentials with a synaptic depression variable. We investigate the long-time behavior of this limit system. To this end, we introduce an auxiliary linearized Markov process by freezing the interaction non-linearity to a constant. By exploiting the regeneration of the membrane potential at spike times, we are able to explicitly compute the conditional expectation of the synaptic depression variable, conditionally on the potential value, under the invariant measure of this two-dimensional linear process. This is a crucial ingredient to study time-dependent local perturbations thereof. As a consequence we are able to identify an analytic criterion guaranteeing the local stability of any invariant probability measure of the fully non-linear system. This stability criterion is formulated in terms of the zeros of the Laplace transform of a specific linear response function. Finally, we provide numerical examples demonstrating that the two-dimensional framework induces a richer spectrum of long-time dynamics than purely one-dimensional models. For example, synaptic depression can lead to low-frequency oscillations around a unique, unstable invariant measure where the oscillations are much slower than the neurons' firing rates.

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Audit summary

Audited against arXiv v1

Not a correctness certificate. A “Correct” result may include yellow typos or minor formal corrections that do not affect substantive soundness. It means this audit found no unresolved substantive error under the stated criteria; it does not replace expert scrutiny or formal verification.

Current report

Detailed mathematical audit

Generated August 18, 2026

01Statements2 reported findingsContains wrong statements

The auxiliary recurrence theorem and the local-stability theorem are false under the stated assumptions, which constrain the flow only for nonnegative initial potentials. Smooth examples with absorbing negative states satisfy every printed assumption but have many invariant measures and no local attraction.

Theorem 2.6Incorrect

Uniqueness and positive Harris recurrence fail for allowed negative states

Pages 7–8 · Assumptions 2.1, 2.3–2.5 and Theorem 2.6 · arXiv:2607.16017v1

Take $b$ identically zero and $\alpha=0$ . Choose a smooth bounded $f$ with $f(v)=0$ for $v\le-1$ and $f(v)=1$ for $v\ge0$ . Assumptions 2.1 and 2.3–2.5 hold because the latter quantify only over $v$ and $\widetilde v$ in the nonnegative half-line, and the flow there is constant with firing rate one. Yet from every state $(v,1)$ with $v\le-1$ the process never jumps and stays fixed. Thus there are infinitely many invariant Dirac measures, contradicting positive Harris recurrence and uniqueness on the stated state space $\mathbb{R}\times[0,1]$ .

Theorem 2.9Not able to verify

The local-stability theorem depends on the false global recurrence input

Pages 9–10 and 23–25 · Theorem 2.9 and its proof · arXiv:2607.16017v1

The proof uses the global exponential contraction and unique invariant measure asserted in Theorem 2.6 to define the decay range for the response kernel and to control every nearby initial law. The counterexample to Theorem 2.6 shows that Assumptions 2.3–2.5 do not supply those inputs on the stated state space. Because Theorem 2.9 additionally refers to a decay constant inherited from that failed input, the same example is not recorded as a separate formal counterexample to its full premise; rather, the local-stability conclusion remains unsupported unless an accessibility hypothesis is added and the argument is rechecked.

02Proofs2 reported findingsContains incorrect or incomplete proofs

The coupling proof establishes estimates only after access to the nonnegative region, while the theorem ranges over all real potentials. It then invokes ‘classical arguments’ for positive Harris recurrence without proving accessibility or tightness.

Proposition 3.12Incorrect as written

The coupling estimate does not cover the stated state space

Pages 15–17 · Proposition 3.12 and Proposition 3.13 · arXiv:2607.16017v1

The uniform coupling-time bound in Proposition 3.13 is taken only over nonnegative initial potentials. Proposition 3.12 immediately applies it to all $v,\widetilde v\in\mathbb{R}$ and concludes positive Harris recurrence. The counterexample in the statement audit shows that negative absorbing states need never reach the controlled region, so this extension is invalid and cannot be repaired without adding a substantive accessibility hypothesis.

Proposition 2.7Incorrect as written

The invariant-density formula has the wrong sign for negative drift

Pages 8 and 18–20 · Proposition 2.7 and its proof · arXiv:2607.16017v1

For $b=0$ , $f=1$ , and $\alpha=-1$ , all printed assumptions hold and the stationary potential is minus an exponential age, with density $e^v$ on $v\le0$ . The displayed formula gives $-e^v$ because its denominator $b(v)+\alpha$ is negative. The convention that reverses the interval $[0,\sigma)$ does not turn a negative Lebesgue density into a probability density. An absolute-value/orientation treatment and a corresponding revision of the proof are required.

03Novelty0 reported findingsNo non-novelty findings

No non-novelty findings.

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Paper: arXiv:2607.16017v1
Authors listed: Quentin Cormier, Eva Löcherbach, Valentin Schmutz
Audit date: August 18, 2026

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Source: arXiv v1
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You are a mathematical auditor. Evaluate only the correctness of the paper's central statements, the correctness and completeness of its proofs, and evidence-backed non-novelty. Do not make editorial comments or evaluate importance, exposition, style, or suitability for publication. Keep the report neutral, precise, and professional. PART 1 — CORRECTNESS OF THE MAIN STATEMENTS Identify the paper's central statements and assess each one separately using exactly one of these outcomes: - Correct: the statement has a correct, verifiable proof; or, despite a defect in the printed proof, you can give a fully verified repair or independent proof. - Incorrect: you can give strong formal evidence that the statement as written is false, preferably a counterexample or a complete contradiction. - Not able to verify: the supplied proof does not establish the statement, and you can neither supply a fully verified proof nor disprove it. For every adverse or unverified outcome, restate the exact claim and hypotheses, identify its location in the reviewed version, and give the decisive reasoning. Do not infer that a theorem is false merely because its printed proof is defective. Assign the overall statements status by the following priority: 1. Contains wrong statements, if at least one central statement is Incorrect. 2. Contains unsupported statements, if no central statement is Incorrect but at least one is Not able to verify. 3. Correct, if every central statement is Correct, apart from any typographical or minor formal findings allowed by Part 4. PART 2 — CORRECTNESS AND COMPLETENESS OF THE PROOFS Audit the proofs of the central statements and every material internal or cited input on which they depend. For each proof or proof segment, use the narrowest supported outcome: - Correct and complete: every substantive step is verifiable and no case or crucial nontrivial step is missing. - Incorrect as written: a displayed calculation, inference, lemma, or cited application is formally false or inapplicable. - Incomplete as written: a necessary substantive step or case is missing, even though no explicit contradiction has been proved. - Not able to verify: the available paper and sources are insufficient to decide whether the step is valid. Do not flag omitted routine details, compressed arguments, or “analogously” steps when the omitted reasoning is recoverable and correct. For every defect, identify its smallest exact location, explain its downstream dependency, and classify any proposed repair as one of: - Verified repair: supply enough reasoning to verify that the repair works throughout every affected use. - Plausible repair only: describe the possible repair but do not treat it as established. - No repair supplied. Assign the overall proofs status by the following priority: 1. Contains incorrect or incomplete proofs, if at least one proof is Incorrect as written or Incomplete as written. 2. Contains unverified proofs, if there is no proved incorrectness or incompleteness but at least one material proof is Not able to verify. 3. Correct, if all audited proofs are Correct and complete, apart from any typographical or minor formal findings allowed by Part 4. PART 3 — NOVELTY OF THE MAIN STATEMENTS This is a one-sided, evidence-only check. Evaluate only central results. Report a result only when a verifiable primary source, publicly available before the earliest public version of the paper that contains the result, proves the same statement up to a change of notation, or when the result follows directly and immediately from such an earlier theorem. For each non-novelty finding, provide the earlier source, its public date, the exact theorem or proposition, and an explicit hypothesis-and-conclusion mapping. A later source cannot establish non-novelty. Do not flag a result merely because an easier proof exists or because it follows through a nontrivial argument. Do not flag a result that the paper itself explicitly presents as known, a survey item, or an alternative proof. Mention only statements that meet this non-novelty threshold. Say nothing about statements for which no such evidence was found: do not certify novelty, list unsuccessful searches, or add statement-level “no prior source found” entries. If the list is empty, the section may say only “No non-novelty findings.” PART 4 — TECHNICAL AND EVIDENTIARY RULES 1. Criticism must never be overstated. Call a statement incorrect, a proof incorrect or incomplete, or a result non-new only when strong formal evidence supports that exact judgment. Otherwise use Not able to verify where that outcome exists, or remain silent in the novelty section. 2. Review a specified paper version. Give exact page, theorem, equation, or proof locations; restate relevant quantifiers and hypotheses; and check domains, endpoints, parameter ranges, constants, and dependencies explicitly. Apply a defect only to the regimes and downstream results that actually depend on it. 3. Immediate-consequence closure: when deciding whether a conclusion is supported, treat the argument as including every immediate formal consequence of facts established earlier in the paper and available at that point. An immediate formal consequence is a local, mechanically checkable inference using only definitions already in force, elementary logic, direct substitution or renaming, weakening of an inequality or set inclusion, or a monotonicity or symmetry property explicit in a definition or already proved. 4. Such an inference must introduce no new lemma, estimate, construction, case analysis, limiting or compactness argument, external result, or new issue of uniformity or parameter dependence. Check the direction of monotonicity and the dependence of every threshold or constant explicitly. Do not exchange pointwise and uniform conclusions, change exceptional sets, interchange quantifiers or limits, or extend an endpoint under this rule unless the required fact was already established. 5. If the claimed conclusion follows after immediate-consequence closure, it is fully supported. Do not report a gap, unsupported statement, minor formal correction, or recommendation to add an explanatory sentence, and do not mention the suppressed item in the report. This suppression does not apply to a genuine typographical error as defined below, because a typo is a literal notation defect that still requires a textual correction. For example, if

P(delta)

is proved for every sufficiently small

delta>0

and

P

is immediately monotone in the required direction, then the claim that

P(delta)

holds for every

delta>0

requires no correction; the omitted monotonicity step is exposition rather than an audit finding. 6. Immediate-consequence closure permits reconstruction of an omitted inference; it does not permit silent alteration of the printed domain, hypotheses, or quantifiers of an intermediate statement later invoked outside its stated scope. If formal validity requires changing the text of that statement or its stated range, report the appropriate finding even when the repair is easy. Thus a result stated only for

t>0

and subsequently applied at

t=0

remains a formal scope mismatch unless the endpoint case was separately established before the application. 7. Apply this mandatory gate before recording any adverse, unverified, typographical, or minor formal finding: (a) identify the exact assertion or inference alleged to be defective; (b) reconstruct the strongest conclusion following from the preceding argument after all admissible immediate formal consequences are added; (c) identify the specific defect that remains — a formally demonstrated falsehood, a concrete nontrivial unresolved proof obligation, or a genuine domain, hypothesis, quantifier, or notation mismatch requiring a textual correction; and (d) state the evidence and minimal repair. If no specific defect remains, or if the only possible addition would be explanatory, suppress the finding entirely. Use Not able to verify only when a precise, nontrivial unresolved obligation can be identified. 8. A typographical error is an incorrect symbol, index, exponent, sign, variable name, or notation mismatch whose unique intended correction is mechanically determined from the surrounding text and does not alter the mathematical argument. Report it in yellow as Typo, with the printed text, correction, exact location, and reason it is harmless. It does not lower an overall status. 9. A minor formal correction is a boundary, endpoint, or displayed parameter-range defect that can be repaired consistently in every affected statement by a local change, without a new argument, without invalidating any related result or application, and without creating another substantive defect. Report it in yellow as Minor formal correction, with the same details. It does not lower an overall status. 10. Do not use either minor category if more than one materially different repair is possible; if the repair changes the substance or scope of a central result; if an excluded case is used later; if the correction fails to propagate consistently; or if a new mathematical idea is required. In such cases use the strongest substantive classification actually supported by evidence. 11. Write every mathematical expression as valid, compilable LaTeX. Use

...

for inline mathematics and

...

for displayed mathematics, with balanced delimiters and braces. Do not leave raw LaTeX commands outside math delimiters. 12. Separate theorem truth from the correctness of the printed proof. A theorem can be Correct in Part 1 because of a fully verified independent proof while its printed proof is adverse in Part 2. Conversely, a defective proof alone never licenses an Incorrect theorem classification. Organize the report under Parts 1–3 and apply Part 4 throughout. Do not add editorial commentary, scores, rankings, recommendations, or a list of suppressed observations.

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On large networks of integrate-and-fire neurons with short-term synaptic plasticity

Paper metadata

Abstract

Audit summary

Detailed mathematical audit

Uniqueness and positive Harris recurrence fail for allowed negative states

The local-stability theorem depends on the false global recurrence input

The coupling estimate does not cover the stated state space

The invariant-density formula has the wrong sign for negative drift

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