title: Random walks in local dynamics of network losses.
abstract: We suggest a model for data losses in a single node (memory buffer) of a packet-switched network (like the Internet) which reduces to one-dimensional discrete random walks with unusual boundary conditions. By construction, the model has critical behavior with a sharp transition from exponentially small to finite losses with increasing data arrival rate. We show that for a finite-capacity buffer at the critical point the loss rate exhibits strong fluctuations and non-Markovian power-law correlations in time, in spite of the Markovian character of the data arrival process.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: I V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Yurkevich
authors.forename: I V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Lerner
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Stepanenko
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Constantinou