.. currentmodule:: brian

Models and neuron groups
========================

:class:`Equations`
------------------
:class:`Equations` objects are initialised with a string as follows::

  eqs=Equations('''
  dx/dt=(y-x)/tau + a : volt   # differential equation
  y=2*x : volt                 # equation
  z=x                          # alias
  a : volt/second              # parameter
  ''')

.. index::
	pair: equations; differential
	pair: equations; equation
	single: equation
	pair: equations; alias
	pair: equations; parameter

It is possible to pass a string instead of an :class:`Equations` object when initialising
a neuron group. In that case, the string is implicitly converted to an :class:`Equations` object.
There are 4 different types of equations:

* Differential equations: a differential equation, also defining the variable as a state
  variable in neuron groups.
* Equations: a non-differential equation, which is useful for defining complicated models.
  The variables are also accessible for reading in neuron groups, which is useful for
  monitoring. The graph of dependencies of all equations must have no cycle.
* Aliases: the two variables are equivalent. This is implemented as an equation,
  with write access in neuron groups.
* Parameters: these are constant variables, but their values can differ from one neuron
  to the next. They are implemented internally as differential equations with zero
  derivative.

Right hand sides must be valid Python expressions, possibly including comments and
multiline characters (``\``).

The units of all variables except aliases must be specified. Note that in first line,
the units *volt* are meant for x, not dx/dt. The consistency of all units is checked
with the method :meth:`~Equations.check_units`, which is automatically called
when initialising a neuron group (through the method :meth:`~Equations.prepare`).

When an :class:`Equations` object is finalised (through the method :meth:`~equations.Equations.prepare`,
automatically called the :class:`NeuronGroup` initialiser), the names of variables defined by
non-differential equations are replaced by their (string) values, so that differential equations
are self-consistent. In the process, names of external variables are also modified to avoid
conflicts (by adding a prefix).

Neuron groups
-------------
The key idea for efficient simulations is to update synchronously the state variables
of all identical neuron models. A neuron group is defined by the model equations, and
optionally a threshold condition and a reset. For example for 100 neurons::

  eqs=Equations('dv/dt=-v/tau : volt')
  group=NeuronGroup(100,model=eqs,reset=0*mV,threshold=10*mV)

The ``model`` keyword also accepts strings (in that case it is converted to an :class:`Equations`
object), e.g.:: 

  group=NeuronGroup(100,model='dv/dt=-v/tau : volt',reset=0*mV,threshold=10*mV)

The units of both the reset and threshold are checked for consistency with the equations.
The code above defines a group of 100 integrate-and-fire neurons with threshold 10 mV and
reset 0 mV. The second line defines an object named ``group`` which contains all the state
variables, which can be accessed with the dot notation, i.e. ``group.v`` is a vector with
the values of variable ``v`` for all of the 100 neurons. It is an array with units as defined
in the equations (here, volt). By default, all state variables are initialised at value 0.
It can be initialised by the user as in the following example::

  group.v=linspace(0*mV,10*mV,100)

Here the values of ``v`` for all the neurons are evenly spaced between 0 mV and 10 mV
(``linspace`` is a NumPy function). The method ``group.rest()`` may also be used to set the
resting point of the equations, but convergence is not always guaranteed.

Important options
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* ``refractory``: a refractory period (default 0 ms), to be used in combination with the ``reset`` value.
* ``implicit`` (default ``False``): if True, then an implicit method is used. This is useful
  for Hodgkin-Huxley equations, which are stiff.

Subgroups
^^^^^^^^^
Subgroups can be created with the slice operator::

  subgroup1=group[0:50]
  subgroup2=group[50:100]

Then ``subgroup2.v[i]`` equals ``group.v[50+i]``.
An alternative equivalent method is the following::

  subgroup1=group.subgroup(50)
  subgroup2=group.subgroup(50)

The parent group keeps track of the allocated subgroups. But note that the two methods are
mutually exclusive, e.g. in the following example::

  subgroup1=group[0:50]
  subgroup2=group.subgroup(50)

both subgroups are actually identical.

Subgroups are useful when creating connections or monitoring the state variables or spikes.
The best practice is to define groups as large as possible, then divide them in subgroups if necessary. 
Indeed, the larger the groups are, the faster the simulation runs. For example, for a network with a feedforward
architecture, one should first define one group holding all the neurons in the network, then define the layers as
subgroups of this big group. 

.. removed for Brian 1.0
	Unitless variables
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
	If an underscore is added to the name of a state variable (``P.v_``) then the units are removed.
	This can be useful when writing custom reset or threshold functions, to make the code faster.

Details
^^^^^^^

For details, see the reference documentation for :class:`NeuronGroup`.

Reset
-----
More complex resets can be defined. The value of the ``reset`` keyword can be:

* a quantity (``0*mV``)
* a string
* a function
* a :class:`Reset` object, which can be used for resetting a specific state variable or
  for resetting a state variable to the value of another variable.

Reset as Python code
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The simplest way to customise the reset is to define it as a Python statement, e.g.::

  eqs='''
  dv/dt=-v/tau : volt
  dw/dt=-w/tau : volt
  '''
  group=NeuronGroup(100,model=eqs,reset="v=0*mV;w+=3*mV",threshold=10*mV)

The string must be a valid Python statement (possibly a multiline string). It can
contain variables from the neuron group, units and any variable defined in the namespace
(e.g. tau), as for equations. Be aware that if a variable in the namespace has the same
name as a neuron group variable, then it masks the neuron variable. The way it works is
that the code is evaluated with each neuron variable ``v`` replaced by ``v[spikes]``, where
``spikes`` is the array of indexes of the neurons that just spiked.

Functional reset
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
To define a specific reset, the generic method is define a function as follows::

  def myreset(P,spikes):
    P.v[spikes]=rand(len(spikes))*5*mV
  group=NeuronGroup(100,model=eqs,reset=myreset,threshold=10*mV)

or faster::

  def myreset(P,spikes):
    P.v_[spikes]=rand(len(spikes))*5*mV

Every time step, the user-defined function is called with arguments
``P``, the neuron group, and ``spikes``, the list of indexes of the neurons that just spiked.
The function above resets the neurons that just spiked to a random value.

Resetting another variable
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It is possible to specify the reset variable explicitly::

  group=NeuronGroup(100,model=eqs,reset=Reset(0*mV,state='w'),threshold=10*mV)

Here the variable ``w`` is reset.

Resetting to the value of another variable
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The value of the reset can be given by another state variable::

  group=NeuronGroup(100,model=eqs,reset=VariableReset(0*mV,state='v',resetvaluestate='w'),threshold=10*mV)

Here the value of the variable ``w`` is used to reset the variable ``v``.

Threshold
---------
As for the reset, the threshold can be customised.

Threshold as Python expression
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The simplest way to customise the threshold is to define it as a Python expression, e.g.::

  eqs='''
  dv/dt=-v/tau : volt
  dw/dt=(v-w)/tau : volt
  '''
  group=NeuronGroup(100,model=eqs,reset=0*mV,threshold="v>=w")

The string must be an expression which evaluates to a boolean. It can
contain variables from the neuron group, units and any variable defined in the namespace
(e.g. tau), as for equations. Be aware that if a variable in the namespace has the same
name as a neuron group variable, then it masks the neuron variable. The way it works is that
the expression is evaluated with the neuron variables replaced by their vector values (values for
all neurons), so that the expression returns a boolean vector.

Functional threshold
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The generic method to define a custom threshold condition is to pass a function of the
state variables which returns a boolean (true if the threshold condition is met), for example::

  eqs='''
  dv/dt=-v/tau : volt
  dw/dt=(v-w)/tau : volt
  '''
  group=NeuronGroup(100,model=eqs,reset=0*mV,threshold=lambda v,w:v>=w)
  
Here we used an anonymous function (``lambda`` keyword) but of course a named function can also
be used. In this example, spikes are generated when v is greater than w.
Note that the arguments of the function must be the state variables with the same order as
in the :class:`Equations` string.

Thresholding another variable
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It is possible to specify the threshold variable explicitly::

  group=NeuronGroup(100,model=eqs,reset=0*mV,threshold=Threshold(0*mV,state='w'))

Here the variable ``w`` is checked.

Using another variable as the threshold value
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The same model as in the functional threshold example can be defined as follows::

  group=NeuronGroup(100,model=eqs,reset=0*mV,threshold=\
        VariableThreshold(state='v',threshold_state='w'))

Empirical threshold
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
For Hodgkin-Huxley models, one needs to determine the threshold empirically. Here the
*threshold* should really be understood rather as the onset of the spikes (used to propagate
the spikes to the other neurons), since there is no explicit reset. There is a
:class:`Threshold` subclass for this purpose::

  group=NeuronGroup(100,model=eqs,threshold=EmpiricalThreshold(threshold=-20*mV,refractory=3*ms))

Spikes are triggered when the membrane potential reaches the value -20 mV, but only if it
has not spiked in the last 3 ms (otherwise there would be spikes every time step during the action
potential). The ``state`` keyword may be used to specify the state variable which should be checked
for the threshold condition.

Poisson threshold
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It is possible to generate spikes with a given probability rather than when a threshold condition
is met, by using the class :class:`PoissonThreshold`, as in the following example::

  group=NeuronGroup(100,model='x : Hz',threshold=PoissonThreshold(state='x'))
  x=linspace(0*Hz,10*Hz,100)

Here spikes are generated as Poisson processes with rates given by the variable x 
(the ``state`` keyword is optional: default = first variable defined). Note that x can
change over time (inhomogeneous Poisson processes). The units of variable x must be Hertz.
