Boundary-driven phase transitions in open two-species driven systems with an umbilic point

Abstract

Different phases in open driven systems are governed by either shocks or rarefaction waves. A presence of an isolated umbilic point in bidirectional systems of interacting particles stabilizes an unusual large scale excitation, an umbilic shock (U-shock). We show that in open systems the U-shock governs a large portion of phase space, and drives a new discontinuous transition between the two rarefaction-controlled phases. This is in contrast with strictly hyperbolic case where such a transition is always continuous. Also, we describe another robust phase which takes place of the phase governed by the U-shock, if the umbilic point is not isolated.