BML revisited: Statistical physics, computer simulation, and probability

Statistical physics, computer simulation and discrete mathematics are intimately related through the study of shared lattice models. These models lie at the foundation of all three fields, are studied extensively, and can be highly influential. Yet new computational and mathematical tools may challenge even well established beliefs. Consider the BML model, which is a paradigm for modeling self-organized patterns of traffic flow and first-order jamming transitions. Recent findings, on the existence of intermediate states, bring into question the standard understanding of the jamming transition. We review the results and show that the onset of full-jamming can be considerably delayed based on the geometry of the system. We also introduce an asynchronous version of BML, which lacks the self-organizing properties of BML, has none of the puzzling intermediate states, but has a sharp, discontinuous, transition to full jamming. We believe this asynchronous version will be more amenable to ri...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2006
• Where: COMPLEXITY
• Authors: Raissa M. D'Souza
• Keywords: COMPLEXITY 2006, First-order Jamming Transitions, Intermediate States, Jamming Transition