title: Driven transport on parallel lanes with particle exclusion and obstruction.
abstract: We investigate a driven two-channel system where particles on different lanes mutually obstruct each other's motion, extending an earlier model by Popkov and Peschel [Phys. Rev. E 64, 026126 (2001)]. This obstruction may occur in biological contexts due to steric hinderance where motor proteins carry cargos by "walking" on microtubules. Similarly, the model serves as a description for classical spin transport where charged particles with internal states move unidirectionally on a lattice. Three regimes of qualitatively different behavior are identified, depending on the strength of coupling between the lanes. For small and large coupling strengths the model can be mapped to a one-channel problem, whereas a rich phase behavior emerges for intermediate ones. We derive an approximate but quantitatively accurate theoretical description in terms of a one-site cluster approximation, and obtain insight into the phase behavior through the current-density relations combined with an extremal-current principle. Our results are confirmed by stochastic simulations.
authors.affiliation: Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics (ASC) and Center for NanoScience (CeNS), Department of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Theresienstraße 37, D-80333 München, Germany.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Melbinger
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Reichenbach
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Franosch
authors.forename: Erwin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Frey
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D001703:Biophysics / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004058:Diffusion; D006801:Humans; D008870:Microtubules / Q000737:chemistry; D015233:Models, Statistical; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D009038:Motion; D011336:Probability; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D013269:Stochastic Processes
chemical_list: D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate