Emergence of particle clusters in a one-dimensional model: connection to condensation processes

Abstract

We discuss a simple model of particles hopping in one dimension with attractive interactions. Taking a hydrodynamic limit in which the interaction strength increases with the system size, we observe the formation of multiple clusters of particles, each containing a finite fraction of the all the particles in the system. These clusters are correlated in space, and the system has a self-similar (fractal) structure. These results are related to condensation phenomena in mass transport models and to a recent mathematical analysis of the hydrodynamic limit in a related model.