Self-organized critical traffic in parallel computer networks

In a recent paper, we analysed the dynamics of traffic flow in a simple, square lattice architecture. It was shown that a phase transition takes place between a free and a congested phase. The transition point was shown to exhibit optimal information transfer and wide fluctuations in time, with scale-free properties. In this paper, we further extend our analysis by considering a generalization of the previous model in which the rate of packet emission is regulated by the local congestion perceived by each node. As a result of the feedback between traffic congestion and packet release, the system is poised at criticality. Many well-known statistical features displayed by Internet traffic are recovered from our model in a natural way.