Bifurcation Phenomena in Optimal Velocity Model for Traffic Flows

Abstract

In the optimal velocity model with a time lag, we show that there appear multiple exact solutions in some ranges of car density, describing a uniform flow, a stable and an unstable congested flows. This establishes the presence of subcritical Hopf bifurcations. Our analytic results have far-reaching implications for traffic flows such as hysteresis phenomena associated with discontinuous transitions between uniform and congested flows.

revtex, 4 pages, 3 figures