Sparsely synchronized neuronal oscillations

We discuss here the properties of fast global oscillations that emerge in networks of neurons firing irregularly at a low rate. We first provide a simple introduction to these sparsely synchronized oscillations, then show how they can be studied analytically in the simple setting of rate models and leaky integrate- and- fire neurons, and finally describe how various neurophysiological features can be incorporated in this framework. We end by a comparison of experimental data and theoretical results. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.