Traffic jams and ordering far from thermal equilibrium

TL;DR

This paper reviews the connection between traffic domain dynamics and the asymmetric chipping model, showing that traffic jams are a broad crossover phenomenon rather than a sharp phase transition.

Contribution

It introduces a novel perspective linking traffic jam dynamics to the asymmetric chipping model, emphasizing the crossover nature of jamming.

Findings

Traffic domains exhibit chipping and diffusion processes similar to the chipping model.

Jamming in non-deterministic traffic models is a broad crossover, not a sharp transition.

Analysis of two traffic models supports the crossover interpretation.

Abstract

The recently suggested correspondence between domain dynamics of traffic models and the asymmetric chipping model is reviewed. It is observed that in many cases traffic domains perform the two characteristic dynamical processes of the chipping model, namely chipping and diffusion. This correspondence indicates that jamming in traffic models in which all dynamical rates are non-deterministic takes place as a broad crossover phenomenon, rather than a sharp transition. Two traffic models are studied in detail and analyzed within this picture.