Multilane driven diffusive systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to analyze multilane driven diffusive systems, showing that their complex dynamics often simplify to single-lane models, and uncovers new phenomena like shear localization in quasi-2D networks.

Contribution

It provides a general approach to construct phase diagrams for multilane systems and demonstrates their reduction to single-lane models, revealing new physical phenomena.

Findings

Many multilane systems reduce to single-lane dynamics.

The method enables phase diagram construction for complex networks.

Shear localization occurs in quasi-2D multilane systems.

Abstract

We consider networks made of parallel lanes along which particles hop according to driven diffusive dynamics. The particles also hop transversely from lane to lane, hence indirectly coupling their longitudinal dynamics. We present a general method for constructing the phase diagram of these systems which reveals that in many cases their physics reduce to that of single-lane systems. The reduction to an effective single-lane description legitimizes, for instance, the use of a single TASEP to model the hopping of molecular motors along the many tracks of a single microtubule. Then, we show how, in quasi-2D settings, new phenomena emerge due to the presence of non-zero transverse currents, leading, for instance, to strong `shear localisation' along the network.