Current fluctuations in the zero-range process with open boundaries

The zero range process is of particular importance as a generic model for domain wall dynamics of one-dimensional systems far from equilibrium. We study this process in one dimension with rates which induce an effective attraction between particles. We rigorously prove that for the stationary probability measure there is a background phase at some critical density and for large system size essentially all excess particles accumulate at a single, randomly located site. Using r...

We derive the Bethe ansatz equations describing the complete spectrum of the transition matrix of the partially asymmetric exclusion process with the most general open boundary conditions. By analysing these equations in detail for the cases of totally asymmetric and symmetric diffusion, we calculate the finite-size scaling of the spectral gap, which characterizes the approach to stationarity at large times. In the totally asymmetric case we observe boundary induced crossover...

The probability distribution of the current in the asymmetric simple exclusion process is expected to undergo a phase transition in the regime of weak asymmetry of the jumping rates. This transition was first predicted by Bodineau and Derrida using a linear stability analysis of the hydrodynamical limit of the process and further arguments have been given by Mallick and Prolhac. However it has been impossible so far to study what happens after the transition. The present pape...

This review article discusses limit distributions and variance bounds for particle current in several dynamical stochastic systems of particles on the one-dimensional integer lattice: independent particles, independent particles in a random environment, the random average process, the asymmetric simple exclusion process, and a class of totally asymmetric zero range processes. The first three models possess linear macroscopic flux functions and lie in the Edwards-Wilkinson uni...

This paper summarizes results and some open problems about the large-scale and long-time behavior of asymmetric, disordered exclusion and zero-range processes. These processes have randomly chosen jump rates at the sites of the underlying lattice. The interesting feature is that for suitably distributed random rates there is a phase transition where the process behaves differently at high and low densities. Some of this distinction is visible on the hydrodynamic scale.

We study the totally asymmetric exclusion process (TASEP) on a finite one-dimensional lattice with open boundaries, i.e., in contact with two reservoirs at different potentials. The total (time-integrated) current through the system is a random variable that scales linearly with time in the long time limit. We give a parametric representation for the generating function of the cumulants of the current, which is related to the large deviation function by Laplace transform. Thi...

We examine the asymmetric simple exclusion process with open boundaries, a paradigm of driven diffusive systems, having a nonequilibrium steady state transition. We provide a full derivation and expanded discussion and digression on results previously reported briefly in M. Depken and R. Stinchcombe, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 93}, 040602, (2004). In particular we derive an exact form for the joint probability function for the bulk density and current, both for finite systems, and...

We study an exclusion process on a ring comprising a free defect particle in a bath of normal particles. The model is one of the few integrable cases in which the bath particles are partially asymmetric. The presence of the free defect creates localized or shock phases according to parameter values. We use a functional approach to Bethe equations resulting from a nested Bethe ansatz to calculate exactly the mean currents and diffusion constants. The results agree very well wi...

We conjecture an exact expression for the large deviation function of the stationary state current in the partially asymmetric exclusion process with periodic boundary conditions. This expression is checked for small systems using functional Bethe Ansatz. It generalizes a previous result by Derrida and Lebowitz for the totally asymmetric exclusion process, and gives the known values for the three first cumulants of the current in the partially asymmetric model. Our result is ...

In order to illuminate the properties of current fluctuations in more than one dimension, we use a lattice-based Markov process driven into a non-equilibrium steady state. Specifically, we perform a detailed study of the particle current fluctuations in a two-dimensional zero-range process with open boundary conditions and probe the influence of the underlying geometry by comparing results from a square and a triangular lattice. Moreover, we examine the structure of local cur...