Geometric structure of coexisting phases found in the Biham-Middleton-Levine traffic model

Abstract

The Biham-Middleton-Levine traffic model is perhaps the simplest system exhibiting phase transitions and self-organization. Moreover, it is an underpinning to extensive modern studies of traffic flow. The general belief is that the system exhibits a sharp phase transition from freely flowing to fully jammed, as a function of initial density of cars. However we discover intermediate stable phases, where jams and freely flowing traffic coexist. The geometric structure of such phases is highly regular, with bands of free flowing traffic intersecting at jammed wavefronts that propagate smoothly through the space. Instead of a phase transition as a function of density, we see bifurcation points, where intermediate phases begin coexisting with the more conventionally known phases. We show that the regular geometric structure is in part a consequence of the finite size and aspect ratio of the underlying lattice, and that for certain aspect ratios the asymptotic intermediate phase is on a short periodic limit cycle (the exact microscopic configuration recurs each tau timesteps, where tau is small compared to the system size). Aside from describing these intermediate states, which previously were overlooked, we derive simple equations to describe the geometric constraints, and predict their asymptotic velocities.