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In a wiki on stochastic differential equations, one passage regarding supersymmetry states the following:

The spontaneous breakdown of... supersymmetry... explains the associated long-range dynamical behavior, i.e, the butterfly effect, 1/f and crackling noises, and scale-free statistics of earthquakes, neuroavalanches, solar flares etc.

What in tarnation is a neuroavalanche? How is it related to the breakdown of supersymmetry? And why is something so ominous sounding also so difficult to define using Google?

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    $\begingroup$ That wikipedia entry links to jneurosci.org/content/24/22/5216 (but the article doesn't seem to mention SUSY though). $\endgroup$
    – AccidentalFourierTransform
    Jun 12, 2017 at 19:32
  • $\begingroup$ @AccidentalFourierTransform. Thank you. This helps me understand that avalanches are being used as analogy to neuro-synaptic cascade effects. I still have to wonder how SUSY crept in. $\endgroup$
    – David Addison
    Jun 12, 2017 at 20:16
  • $\begingroup$ users.physik.fu-berlin.de/~kleinert/256/256j.pdf first page. You replace an algebraic object (Jacobian determinant) with an integral over fermionic variables, and you have an equivalent equation that is now supersymmetric! It's miraculous and powerful. I learned about it on this site from Ron Maimon physics.stackexchange.com/a/16397/1486 $\endgroup$
    – Mitchell Porter
    Jun 13, 2017 at 1:57
  • $\begingroup$ The wiki article reports on a new application of the supersymmetric representation, in which the breaking of supersymmetry leads to "dynamic long-range order". It's a cool enough topic to deserve a proper answer but I am not competent to write it. $\endgroup$
    – Mitchell Porter
    Jun 13, 2017 at 1:59

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