Mobile-to-clogging transition in a Fermi-like model of counterflowing particles.

Abstract

In this paper we propose a generalized model for the motion of a two-species self-driven objects ranging from a scenario of a completely random environment of particles of negligible excluded volume to a more deterministic regime of rigid objects in an environment. Each cell of the system has a maximum occupation level called σ_{max}. Both species move in opposite directions. The probability of any given particle to move to a neighboring cell depends on the occupation of this cell according to a Fermi-Dirac-like distribution, considering a parameter α that controls the system randomness. We show that for a certain α=α_{c} the system abruptly transits from a mobile scenario to a clogged state, which is characterized by condensates. We numerically describe the details of this transition by coupled partial differential equations (PDE) and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations that are in good agreement.