A note on the event horizon for a processor sharing queue

Abstract

In this note we identify a phenomenon for processor sharing queues that is unique to ones with time-varying rates. This property was discovered while correcting a proof in Hampshire, Harchol-Balter and Massey [5]. If the arrival rate for processor sharing queue has unbounded growth over time, then it is possible for the number of customers in a processor sharing queue to grow so quickly that a newly entering job never finishes. We define the minimum size for such a job to be the event horizon for a processor sharing queue. We discuss the use of such a concept and develop some of its properties. This short article serves both as errata for [5] and as documentation of a characteristic feature for some processor sharing queues with time varying rates.