  We develop a mean-field theory for the totally asymmetric simple exclusion
process (TASEP) with open boundaries, in order to investigate the so-called
dynamical transition. The latter phenomenon appears as a singularity in the
relaxation rate of the system toward its non-equilibrium steady state. In the
high-density (low-density) phase, the relaxation rate becomes independent of
the injection (extraction) rate, at a certain critical value of the parameter
itself, and this transition is not accompanied by any qualitative change in the
steady-state behavior. We characterize the relaxation rate by providing
rigorous bounds, which become tight in the thermodynamic limit. These results
are generalized to the TASEP with Langmuir kinetics, where particles can also
bind to empty sites or unbind from occupied ones, in the symmetric case of
equal binding/unbinding rates. The theory predicts a dynamical transition to
occur in this case as well.
