0000000000061439
AUTHOR
Reinhard Mahnke
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.
Comment on “How skew distributions emerge in evolving systems” by Choi M. Y. et al.
Power-law distributions and other skew distributions, observed in various models and real systems, are considered. As an example, critical exponents determined from highly accurate experimental data very close to the λ-transition point in liquid helium are discussed in some detail. A model, describing evolving systems with increasing number of elements, is considered to study the distribution over element sizes. Stationary power-law distributions are found. Certain non-stationary skew distributions are obtained and analyzed, based on exact solutions. Validerad; 2010; 20100908 (weber)
Application of thermodynamics to driven systems
Application of thermodynamics to driven systems is discussed. As particular examples, simple traffic flow models are considered. On a microscopic level, traffic flow is described by Bando's optimal velocity model in terms of accelerating and decelerating forces. It allows to introduce kinetic, potential, as well as total energy, which is the internal energy of the car system in view of thermodynamics. The latter is not conserved, although it has certain value in any of two possible stationary states corresponding either to fixed point or to limit cycle in the space of headways and velocities. On a mesoscopic level of description, the size n of car cluster is considered as a stochastic varia…
Scaling behavior of an airplane-boarding model
An airplane-boarding model, introduced earlier by Frette and Hemmer [Phys. Rev. E 85, 011130 (2012)], is studied with the aim of determining precisely its asymptotic power-law scaling behavior for a large number of passengers $N$. Based on Monte Carlo simulation data for very large system sizes up to $N={2}^{16}=65\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}536$, we have analyzed numerically the scaling behavior of the mean boarding time $\ensuremath{\langle}{t}_{b}\ensuremath{\rangle}$ and other related quantities. In analogy with critical phenomena, we have used appropriate scaling Ans\"atze, which include the leading term as some power of $N$ (e.g., $\ensuremath{\propto}$${N}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ for …
The Master Equation
The Langevin Equation
Nucleation in Supersaturated Vapors
Metastability of Traffic Flow in Zero-Range Model
The development of traffic jams in vehicular flow is an everyday example of the occurence of phase separation in low-dimensional driven systems, a topic which has attracted much recent interest [1–4]. In [5] the existence of phase separation is related to the size-dependence of domain currents and a quantitative criterion is obtained by considering the zero-range process (ZRP) as a generic model for domain dynamics. We use zero-range picture to study the phase separation in traffic flow in the spirit of the probabilistic (master equation) description of transportation [6]. Significantly, we find [7] that prior to condensation studied in previous works [8, 9] the system can exist in a homoge…
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
From Random Walker to Vehicular Traffic: Motion on a Circle
Driving of cars on a highway is a complex process which can be described by deterministic and stochastic forces. It leads to equations of motion with asymmetric interaction and dissipation as well as to new energy flow law already presented at previous TRAFFIC AND GRANULAR FLOW meetings. Here we consider a model, where motion of an asymmetric random walker on a ring with periodic boundary conditions takes place. It is related to driven systems with active particles, energy input and depot. This simple model can be further developed towards more complicated ones, describing vehicular or pedestrian traffic. Three particular cases are considered, starting with discrete coordinate and time, the…
Models for highway traffic and their connections to thermodynamics
Models for highway traffic are studied by numerical simulations. Of special interest is the spontaneous formation of traffic jams. In a thermodynamic system the traffic jam would correspond to the dense phase (liquid) and the free flowing traffic would correspond to the gas phase. Both phases depending on the density of cars can be present at the same time. A model for a single lane circular road has been studied. The model is called the optimal velocity model (OVM) and was developed by Bando, Sugiyama, et al. We propose here a reformulation of the OVM into a description in terms of potential energy functions forming a kind of Hamiltonian for the system. This will however not be a globally …
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…
Dynamics and Thermodynamics of Traffic Flow
Application of thermodynamics to traffic flow is discussed. On a microscopic level, traffic flow is described by Bando’s optimal velocity model in terms of accelerating and decelerating forces. It allows us to introduce kinetic, potential, as well as a total energy, which is the internal energy of the car system in view of thermodynamics. The total energy is however not conserved, although it has a certain value in any of the two possible stationary states corresponding either to a fixed point or to a limit cycle solution in the space of headways and velocities.
Zero-range model of traffic flow.
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 s…
Vehicular Motion and Traffic Breakdown: Evaluation of Energy Balance
Microscopic traffic models based on follow–the–leader behaviour are strongly asymmetrically interacting many–particle systems. The well–known Bando’s optimal velocity model includes the fact that (firstly) the driver is always looking forward interacting with the lead vehicle and (secondly) the car travels on the road always with friction. Due to these realistic assumptions the moving car needs petrol for the engine to compensate dissipation by rolling friction. We investigate the flux of mechanical energy to evaluate the energy balance out of the given nonlinear dynamical system of vehicular particles. In order to understand the traffic breakdown as transition from free flow to congested t…
Air Traffic, Boarding and Scaling Exponents
The air traffic is a very important part of the global transportation network. In distinction from vehicular traffic, the boarding of an airplane is a significant part of the whole transportation process. Here we study an airplane boarding model, introduced in 2012 by Frette and Hemmer, with the aim to determine precisely the asymptotic power–law scaling behavior of the mean boarding time 〈t b 〉 and other related quantities for large number of passengers N. Our analysis is based on an exact enumeration for small system sizes N ≤ 14 and Monte Carlo simulation data for very large system sizes up to \(N = 2^{16} = 65,536\). It shows that the asymptotic power–law scaling 〈t b 〉 ∝ N α holds with…
Applications to Traffic Breakdown on Highways
During the last years researches into properties of vehicle ensembles on highways form a new branch of physics, called physics of traffic flow. On macroscopic scales the vehicle ensembles exhibit a wide class of phenomena like phase separation and phase transformations widely met in physical systems. Due to the steadily increasing traffic volume in cities and on highways, the mathematical modelling of these phenomena has attracted a great interest. Particularly, the topic of car—following has become of increased importance in traffic engineering and safety research.