Deterministic spontaneous appearance of traffic jams in slightly inhomogeneous traffic flow

Abstract

It is shown that a traffic jam can spontaneously be self-formed in a deterministic way in traffic flow, i.e., even if fluctuations in traffic flow are negligible and they need not be taken into account. This effect may be usual for a highway, where traffic flow can always be slightly inhomogeneous due to entering traffic to on-ramps and leaving traffic to off-ramps.