Correlations and their Dynamics in Freeway Networks

交通问题变得越来越紧迫，正如我们经常在收音机里听交通新闻时意识到的那样。在过去的几年里，随着越来越多的数据变得可用，新的机会已经打开，使交通成为大数据研究的对象。在个别街道/道路上发生的事情是很容易理解的。人们对相互连接的街道/道路的相互影响知之甚少，特别是交通堵塞或其他干扰如何在网络中扩散。为了研究这一点，我们将应用复杂系统统计物理学的现代方法，这些方法在其他领域，特别是在金融市场的研究中得到了发展和检验。具体目标是更好地了解北莱茵威斯特伐利亚高速公路网络的功能。

Traffic problems become ever more urgent, as we regularly realize when listening to the traffic news on the radio. In the last years with more and more data becoming available, new opportunities have opened up, making traffic an object for big data research. What happens on individual streets/roads is well understood. Much less is known about the mutual influences of the connected streets/roads, particularly how traffic jams or other disturbances spread out in the network. To investigate that, we will apply modern methods from statistical physics of complex systems which were developed and tested in other fields, especially in research on financial markets. Concrete objective is to better understand the functionality of the freeway network in North Rhine Westphalia.