Totally asymmetric simple exclusion process with a time-dependent boundary: Interaction between vehicles and pedestrians at intersections

Abstract

Interaction between vehicles and pedestrians is seen in many areas such as crosswalks and intersections. In this paper, we study a totally asymmetric simple exclusion process with a bottleneck at a boundary caused by an interaction. Due to the time-dependent effect originating from the speed of pedestrians, the flow of the model varies even if the average hopping probability at the last site is the same. We analyze the phenomenon by using two types of approximations: extended two-cluster approximation and isolated rarefaction wave approximation. The approximate results capture intriguing features of the model. Moreover, we discuss the situation where vehicles turn right at the intersection by adding a traffic light at the boundary condition. The result suggests that pedestrian scrambles are valid to eliminate traffic congestion in the right-turn lane.