Modelling Widely Scattered States in `Synchronized' Traffic Flow and Possible Relevance for Stock Market Dynamics

Traffic flow at low densities (free traffic) is characterized by a quasi-one-dimensional relation between traffic flow and vehicle density, while no such fundamental diagram exists for `synchronized' congested traffic flow. Instead, a two-dimensional area of widely scattered flow-density data i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2001-08
Main Authors: Helbing, Dirk, Batic, Davide, Schoenhof, Martin, Treiber, Martin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computational fluid dynamics
Molecular dynamics
Stock exchanges
Traffic congestion
Traffic flow
Traffic models
Two dimensional flow
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Traffic flow at low densities (free traffic) is characterized by a quasi-one-dimensional relation between traffic flow and vehicle density, while no such fundamental diagram exists for `synchronized' congested traffic flow. Instead, a two-dimensional area of widely scattered flow-density data is observed as a consequence of a complex traffic dynamics. For an explanation of this phenomenon and transitions between the different traffic phases, we propose a new class of molecular-dynamics-like, microscopic traffic models based on times to collisions and discuss the properties by means of analytical arguments. Similar models may help to understand the laminar and turbulent phases in the dynamics of stock markets as well as the transitions among them.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.0108548