title: Simple model for 1/f(alpha) noise.
abstract: We present a simple stochastic mechanism which generates pulse trains exhibiting a power-law distribution of the pulse intervals and a 1/f(alpha) power spectrum over several decades at low frequencies with alpha close to 1. The essential ingredient of our model is a fluctuating threshold which performs a Brownian motion. Whenever an increasing potential V(t) hits the threshold, V(t) is reset to the origin and a pulse is emitted. We show that if V(t) increases linearly in time, the pulse intervals can be approximated by a random walk with multiplicative noise. Our model agrees with recent experiments in neurobiology and explains the high interpulse interval variability and the occurrence of 1/f(alpha) noise observed in cortical neurons and earthquake data.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Olshausenstrasse 40, 24118 Kiel, Germany. jdavidse@chem.utoronto.ca
authors.forename: Jörn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Davidsen
authors.forename: Heinz Georg
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Schuster