Spectral degeneracies in the totally asymmetric exclusion process (Q811900)

The authors study the model of the totally asymmetric exclusion process (TASEP). The simple exclusion process is a process in which particles hop on a lattice and respect the exclusion rule that forbids two or more particles per site; when the jumps of each particle are allowed in only one direction we get the totally asymmetric process. The authors present a self-contained derivation of Bethe equations based upon the fact that the Bethe wave function is a determinant for the TASEP model. The peculiar structure of the TASEP spectrum suggests the existence of some underlying symmetries of the model that may shed light on its remarkable combinatorial properties. Assuming a one-to-one correspondence between the solutions of the Bethe equations and the eigenmodes of the Markov matrix one derives combinatorial formulae for the orders of degeneracy and the number of multiplets. The behaviour of large size systems is also discussed and numerical results are given. The geometrical setting of the solutions of the Bethe equations in the complex plane is briefly described.