Asymmetric exclusion process with a dynamic roadblock and open boundaries

Abstract

Motivated by complex transport processes occurring in nature, we study a totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) with a dynamic ‘roadblock’ particle. The roadblock particle blocks the traffic of moving particles while bound to the lattice, but can stochastically unbind or switch off, thus enabling the traffic to pass. We use simulations to study the dependence of the particle flux on the on/off switching dynamics of the roadblock, which exhibits a surprisingly rich dynamic behaviour. In particular, unlike in other studied TASEP variants with defects, here we observe that the particle flux is affected by the roadblock even in the initiation-limited or low density phase if the roadblock dynamics is slow. Rapid switching off the roadblock results in the typical behaviour of a TASEP with a defect/pause with reduced maximal current, but no effect of the roadblock on the flux in the initiation-limited phase. Moreover, in an intermediate range of roadblock rates, the particle current is found to be system-size dependent.