Spontaneous symmetry breaking in asymmetric exclusion process with constrained boundaries and site sharing: A Monte Carlo study

Abstract

This paper investigates the two species totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) with constrained boundaries and site sharing in a one-lane system. The model is reminiscent of pedestrian traffic crossing a narrow pathway in both directions. In boundaries, particles can enter the system only if the corresponding sites are empty. The new aspect of this study compared to previous two species TASEP models is that the oppositely moving particles do not exchange their positions each other but by sharing the same site. Monte Carlo simulations have shown that the spontaneous symmetry breaking is observed in high–low-density phase and asymmetric low–low-density phase. The flipping processes are also observed in both phases. The maximal current phase appears for sufficiently large sharing probability. Histograms of two species of particles and average currents are computed. The results are also compared with the Bridge model [Evans et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 74 (1995) 208] which means that two species of particles can exchange their positions with a certain probability when they meet together. It is shown that our model exhibits higher current than that in the Bridge model.