Buffers Follow Bandwidth-Delay — hypothesis
Supplied working report; original verdicts not validated.
Review status: Needs review. This is an archival source note, not a passed proof.
hypothesis.md
# Buffers Follow Bandwidth-Delay — hypothesis **Source:** Incoprea Theory Volume X, Theory 041 / Networks & Telecommunications. **Claim (verbatim):** "Network throughput collapses when buffer size falls below a critical fraction of the bandwidth-delay product, rather than degrading smoothly." **Predictions (verbatim):** - P1 — Throughput should collapse below a buffer fraction. - P2 — Enlarging the buffer should restore throughput abruptly. **Refutation (verbatim):** Smooth throughput decline with buffer would remove the threshold. **Pre-registered test.** Simulate a windowed sender whose in-flight packet count is limited by the buffer size, on a link with a fixed bandwidth-delay product. Measure steady-state throughput and utilisation as the buffer sweeps from far below to far above the product, and locate the buffer at which utilisation saturates. **Fixed before running:** link capacity and round-trip time fixed; the buffer is the only varying quantity.