Noise-Induced Phase Transitions

Stochastic description of traffic breakdown

We present a comparison of nucleation in an isothermal-isochoric container with traffic congestion on a one-lane freeway. The analysis is based, in both cases, on the probabilistic description by stochastic master equations. Further we analyze the characteristic features of traffic breakdowns. To describe this phenomenon we apply the stochastic model regarding the jam emergence to the formation of a large car cluster on the highway.

The Master Equation

The Langevin Equation

Nucleation in Supersaturated Vapors

Probabilistic description of traffic flow

Abstract A stochastic description of traffic flow, called probabilistic traffic flow theory, is developed. The general master equation is applied to relatively simple models to describe the formation and dissolution of traffic congestions. Our approach is mainly based on spatially homogeneous systems like periodically closed circular rings without on- and off-ramps. We consider a stochastic one-step process of growth or shrinkage of a car cluster (jam). As generalization we discuss the coexistence of several car clusters of different sizes. The basic problem is to find a physically motivated ansatz for the transition rates of the attachment and detachment of individual cars to a car cluster…

One-Dimensional Diffusion

Probabilistic description of traffic breakdowns

We analyze the characteristic features of traffic breakdown. To describe this phenomenon we apply to the probabilistic model regarding the jam emergence as the formation of a large car cluster on highway. In these terms the breakdown occurs through the formation of a certain critical nucleus in the metastable vehicle flow, which enables us to confine ourselves to one cluster model. We assume that, first, the growth of the car cluster is governed by attachment of cars to the cluster whose rate is mainly determined by the mean headway distance between the car in the vehicle flow and, may be, also by the headway distance in the cluster. Second, the cluster dissolution is determined by the car …

The Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Process

Stochastic approach to highway traffic

We analyze the characteristic features of jam formation on a circular one-lane road. We have applied an optimal velocity model including stochastic noise, where cars are treated as moving and interacting particles. The motion of N cars is described by the system of 2 N stochastic differential equations with multiplicative white noise. Our system of cars behaves in qualitatively different ways depending on the values of control parameters c (dimensionless density), b (sensitivity parameter characterising the fastness of relaxation), and α (dimensionless noise intensity). In analogy to the gas-liquid phase transition in supersaturated vapour at low enough temperatures, we observe three differ…

Many-Particle Systems

Bounded Drift-Diffusion Motion

The Fokker-Planck Equation