Sojourn time asymptotics in the M/G/1 processor sharing queue

We show for the M/G/1 processor sharing queue that the service time distribution is regularly varying of index -ν, ν non-integer, iff the sojourn time distribution is regularly varying of index -ν. This result is derived from a new expression for the Laplace–Stieltjes transform of the sojourn time distribution. That expression also leads to other new properties for the sojourn time distribution. We show how the moments of the sojourn time can be calculated recursively and prove that the kth moment of the sojourn time is finite iff the kth moment of the service time is finite. In addition, we give a short proof of a heavy traffic theorem for the sojourn time distribution, prove a heavy traffic theorem for the moments of the sojourn time, and study the properties of the heavy traffic limiting sojourn time distribution when the service time distribution is regularly varying. Explicit formulas and multiterm expansions are provided for the case that the service time has a Pareto distribution. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.