Defect-induced anticorrelations in molecular motor traffic

Abstract

We revisit the nonequilibrium phase transition between a spatially homogeneous low-density phase and a phase-separated high-density state in the deterministic sublattice totally asymmetric simple exclusion process with stochastic defect. We discuss this phase transition in a grandcanonical ensemble for which we obtain exact results for the stationary current-density correlations and for the average collective velocity. We identify defect-induced anticorrelations that are absent in similar boundary-induced phase transitions. The average collective velocity vanishes at the phase transition and in the phase-separated state due to its macroscopic spatial inhomogeneity.