DG-MP-PDE Seminar: Traffic flow and traffic jams: from kinetic theory to functional differential equations

I will speak on certain kinetic and macroscopic models of traffic flow. After a review of the concept of a fundamental diagram the high-density regime will be considered, and the emergence of macroscopic models with nolocalities will be discussed. Numerical evidence (and real traffic data) suggest that travelling "braking" waves form and propagate in response to trigger events. A traveling wave ansatz for solutions of the macroscopic models leads to an unusual functional differential equation, for which preliminary studies will be shown.