Unbalanced Langmuir kinetics affects TASEP dynamical transitions: mean-field theory

Abstract

In a previous study we developed a mean-field theory of dynamical transitions for the totally-asymmetric simple-exclusion process (TASEP) with open boundaries and Langmuir kinetics, in the so-called balanced regime, characterized by equal binding and unbinding rates. Here we show that simply including the possibility of unbalanced rates gives rise to an unexpectedly richer dynamical phase diagram. In particular, the current work predicts an unusual type of dynamical transition, which exhibits certain similarities with first-order phase transitions of equilibrium systems. We also point out that different types of dynamical transition are accompanied by different structural changes in the (mean-field) relaxation spectrum.