Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · cond-mat/0504676

Zero range model of traffic flow

J. Kaupuzs·R. Mahnke·R. J. Harris
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

A multi--cluster model of traffic flow is studied, in which the motion of cars is described by a stochastic master equation. Assuming that the escape rate from a cluster depends only on the cluster size, the dynamics of the model is directly mapped to the mathematically well-studied zero-range process. Knowledge of the asymptotic behaviour of the transition rates for large clusters allows us to apply an established criterion for phase separation in one-dimensional driven systems. The distribution over cluster sizes in our zero-range model is given by a one--step master equation in one dimension. It provides an approximate mean--field dynamics, which, however, leads to the exact stationary state. Based on this equation, we have calculated the critical density at which phase separation takes place. We have shown that within a certain range of densities above the critical value a metastable homogeneous state exists before coarsening sets in. Within this approach we have estimated the critical cluster size and the mean nucleation time for a condensate in a large system. The metastablity in the zero-range process is reflected in a metastable branch of the fundamental flux--density diagram of traffic flow. Our work thus provides a possible analytical description of traffic jam formation as well as important insight into condensation in the zero-range process.

Explore related subjects

cond-mat.stat-mechphysics.soc-ph

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

J. Kaupuzs, R. Mahnke, R. J. Harris. 2005-10-08. Zero range model of traffic flow. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.72.056125

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

A General Solution for Network Models with Pairwise Edge Coupling

Network Models with couplings between link pairs are the simplest models for a class of networks with Higher Order interactions. In this paper we give an analytic, general solution to this family of Random Graph Models extending previous results obtained for specific interaction structures. We use the Hubbard-Stratonovich transform to show that such higher order models can be decoupled into families of effectively separable random graph models, which might be enhanced with auxiliary, possibly multi-valued, parameters identifying the thermodynamical phase of the system. Moreover, given the diagonalizability of couplings between links, we carry out the full computation of the partition functions and discuss why in some cases they can effectively reduce to the one for the Mean-Field case.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2026

Dynamic Eikonal Attenuation and Mutual Coherence of Quantum Particles due to Equilibrium Coulomb Fluctuations

We develop a dynamic theory of eikonal attenuation and mutual coherence for a quantum particle propagating through equilibrium Coulomb fluctuations. The one-particle length $\ell$ is the attenuation length of the ensemble-averaged retarded propagator, not an Anderson localization length or a transport mean free path. For a collisionless classical one-component plasma (OCP), the potential spectrum follows from the fluctuation--dissipation theorem and the RPA dielectric function. In suitable plasma parameter windows, both fast and slow probe regimes are physically meaningful. Fast probes recover the Coulomb logarithm with the dynamical infrared length $v/ω_{\rm p}$. Slow probes yield $G(v)\propto v$ and, in the controlled weak branch, $\ell\propto k$. We derive an exact finite-thickness mutual-coherence expression and a closed slow-regime transverse scaling function. Within the controlled slow-OCP and thick-slab window, the logarithmic two-ray visibility scales as $v^{-1}$ at fixed transverse separation, in contrast to the $v^{-2}$ dependence for frozen finite-slab fluctuations. For a symmetric diffusive electrolyte, linearized stochastic density functional theory gives the exact on-shell result $G_{\rm el}(v)=(m^2C/\hbar^4)\operatorname{arsinh}[v/(2Dκ)]$, where $C=k_{\mathrm B}Tq_0^2/(4π\varepsilon_b)$. For ordinary liquid electrolytes, the slow diffusive limit is inaccessible within the spatial eikonal regime and is therefore a formal asymptote. The physically relevant electrolyte limit is instead that of a fast probe, $v\gg Dκ$, where the diffusive charge relaxation generates an intrinsic infrared length $v/(Dκ^2)$ absent from the quasi-static theory.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2026

Planckian dissipation from classical hydrodynamics

Hydrodynamics describes the long-time, long-distance dynamics of interacting quantum systems by classical equations, yet at low temperature quantum fluctuations might eventually invalidate this classical picture. Here we ask what it takes for a quantum system to sustain a consistently classical hydrodynamic description. Our starting point is the quantum fluctuation-dissipation theorem which, when read in the time domain, acts as a blurring of the fine details of correlation functions on a Planckian time-scale. We analyse how this blurring interacts with the diffusive large-deviation form of correlators assuming the existence of a hydrodynamic light cone velocity, and show that the interior of the cone splits into a classical region, where correlation and response satisfy the classical fluctuation-dissipation relation, and a quantum region, where they deviate sharply from it. We illustrate the mechanism on three phenomenological hydrodynamic equations - diffusion, telegraph and diffusive-telegraph. Preserving a finite classical region as the temperature is lowered forces the current relaxation rate to be bounded from above by the Planckian rate. This bound connects to bounds on diffusivity, equilibration time and shear viscosity. In this way, a Planckian bound on dissipation emerges not as a quantum constraint on microscopic dynamics, but as the price a system pays to remain describable by classical hydrodynamics down to low temperatures.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗