Driven flow with exclusion and transport in graphene-like structures

R. B. Stinchcombe, S. L. A. de Queiroz, M. A. G. Cunha, Belita Koiller

Published 2013-06-27, updated 2013-10-21Version 2

The totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP), a well-known model in its strictly one-dimensional (chain) version, is generalized to cylinder (nanotube) and ribbon (nanoribbon) geometries. A mean-field theoretical description is given for very narrow ribbons ("necklaces"), and nanotubes. For specific configurations of bond transmissivity rates, and for a variety of boundary conditions, theory predicts equivalent steady state behavior between (sublattices on) these structures and chains. This is verified by numerical simulations, to excellent accuracy, by evaluating steady-state currents. We also numerically treat ribbons of general width. We examine the adequacy of this model to the description of electronic transport in carbon nanotubes and nanoribbons, or specifically-designed quantum dot arrays.