title: Exciting traffic jams: nonlinear phenomena behind traffic jam formation on highways.
abstract: A nonlinear car-following model is studied with driver reaction time delay by using state-of-the-art numerical continuations techniques. These allow us to unveil the detailed microscopic dynamics as well as to extract macroscopic properties of traffic flow. Parameter domains are determined where the uniform flow equilibrium is stable but sufficiently large excitations may trigger traffic jams. This behavior becomes more robust as the reaction time delay is increased.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA. gabor@engineering.ucsb.edu
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Orosz
authors.forename: R Eddie
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Róbert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Szalai
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stépán
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D003441:Crowding; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics