Hovering stochastic oscillations in self-organized critical systems

In the last decade, several models with adaptive mechanisms (link deletion-creation, dynamical synapses, dynamical gains) have been proposed as examples of self-organized criticality (SOC). However, all these systems present hovering stochastic oscillations around the critical region and the origin of this behaviour is not clear. Here we make a linear stability analysis of the mean field fixed points of three adaptive SOC systems. We find that the fixed points correspond to barely stable spirals that turn out indifferent at criticality where a Neimark-Sacker bifurcation occurs. This near indifference means that, in real systems, finite-size fluctuations (as well as external noise) can excite both stochastic oscillations and avalanches. The coexistence of these two types of neuronal activity is an experimental prediction that differs from standard SOC models.