Noise-induced transition to stop-and-go waves in single-file traffic rationalized by an analogy with Kapitza's inverted pendulum

Abstract

Stop-and-go waves in vehicular traffic are commonly explained as a linear collective instability induced by e.g. response delays. We explore an alternative mechanism that more faithfully mirrors oscillation formation in dense single-file traffic. Stochastic noise plays a key role in this model; as it is increased, the base (uniform) flow abruptly switches to stop-and-go dynamics despite its unconditional linear stability. We elucidate the instability mechanism and rationalize it quantitatively by likening the system to a cyclically driven Kapitza pendulum.

Article: 7 pages, 3 figures. End Matter: 4 pages, 2 figures. Supplementary Material: 8 pages, 4 figures