Spike Trains in Spiking Neural P Systems

Abstract

We continue here the study of the recently introduced spiking neural P systems, which mimic the way that neurons communicate with each other by means of short electrical impulses, identical in shape (volt- age), but emitted at precise moments of time. The sequence of moments when a neuron emits a spike is called the spike train (of this neuron); by designating one neuron as the output neuron of a spiking neural P system ¦, one obtains a spike train of ¦. Given a speci¯c way of assigning sets of numbers to spike trains of ¦, we obtain sets of numbers computed by ¦. In this way, spiking neural P systems become number computing devices. We consider a number of ways to assign (code) sets of numbers to (by) spike trains, and prove then computational completeness: the computed sets of numbers are exactly Turing computable sets. When the number of spikes present in the system is bounded, a characterization of semilinear sets of numbers is obtained. A number of research problems is also formulated.