Effects of junctional correlations in the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process on random regular networks

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2014 Dec;90(6):062111. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.90.062111. Epub 2014 Dec 3.

Abstract

We investigate the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process on closed and directed random regular networks, which is a simple model of active transport in the one-dimensional segments coupled by junctions. By a pair mean-field theory and detailed numerical analyses, it is found that the correlations at junctions induce two notable deviations from the simple mean-field theory, which neglects these correlations: (1) the narrower range of particle density for phase coexistence and (2) the algebraic decay of density profile with exponent 1/2 even outside the maximal-current phase. We show that these anomalies are attributable to the effective slow bonds formed by the network junctions.