Recursive structures in the multispecies TASEP

Abstract: We consider a multi-species generalization of the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) with the simple hopping rule: for x and yth-class particles (x<y), the transition xy -> yx occurs with a rate independent from the values x and y. P. A. Ferrari and J. Martin (2007) obtained the stationary state of this model thanks to a combinatorial algorithm, which was subsequently interpreted as a matrix product representation by Evans et al. (2009). This `matrix ansatz' shows that the stationary state of the multi-species TASEP with N classes of particles (N-TASEP) can be constructed algebraically by the action of an operator on the (N-1)-TASEP stationary state. Besides, Arita et al. (2009) analyzed the spectral structure of the Markov matrix: they showed that the set of eigenvalues of the N-TASEP contains those of the (N-1)-TASEP and that the various spectral inclusions can be encoded in a hierarchical set-theoretic structure known as the Hasse diagram. Inspired by these works, we define nontrivial operators that allow us to construct eigenvectors of the N-TASEP by lifting the eigenvectors of the (N-1)-TASEP. This goal is achieved by generalizing the matrix product representation and the Ferrari-Martin algorithm. In particular, we show that the matrix ansatz is not only a convenient tool to write the stationary state but in fact intertwines Markov matrices of different values of N.