Limit theorems for the maximum likelihood estimate under general multiply Type II censoring

Assume n items are put on a life-time test, however for various reasons we have only observed the r₁-th,..., r_k-th failure times % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXafv3ySLgzGmvETj2BSbqefm0B1jxALjhiov2D% aebbfv3ySLgzGueE0jxyaibaiiYdd9qrFfea0dXdf9vqai-hEir8Ve% ea0de9qq-hbrpepeea0db9q8as0-LqLs-Jirpepeea0-as0Fb9pgea% 0lrP0xe9Fve9Fve9qapdbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaamaabaabcaGcba% GaamiEamaaBaaaleaamiaadkhadaWgaaqaaSGaaGymaiaacYcaaWqa% baGaamOBaiaacYcacaGGUaGaaiOlaiaac6caaSqabaGccaGGSaGaam% iEamaaBaaaleaamiaadkhadaWgaaqaaSGaam4AaiaacYcaaWqabaGa% amOBaaWcbeaaaaa!48BB![x_{r_{1,} n,...} ,x_{r_{k,} n} ]with % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXafv3ySLgzGmvETj2BSbqefm0B1jxALjhiov2D% aebbfv3ySLgzGueE0jxyaibaiiYdd9qrFfea0dXdf9vqai-hEir8Ve% ea0de9qq-hbrpepeea0db9q8as0-LqLs-Jirpepeea0-as0Fb9pgea% 0lrP0xe9Fve9Fve9qapdbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaamaabaabcaGcba% GaaGimaiabgsMiJkaadIhadaWgaaWcbaadcaWGYbWaaSbaaeaaliaa% igdacaGGSaaameqaaiaad6gaaSqabaGccqGHKjYOcqWIVlctcqGHKj% YOcaWG4bWaaSbaaSqaaWGaamOCamaaBaaabaWccaWGRbGaaiilaaad% beaacaWGUbaaleqaaeXatLxBI9gBaGqbaOGae8hpaWJaeyOhIukaaa!521B![0 le x_{r_{1,} n} le cdots le x_{r_{k,} n} > infty ]. This is a multiply Type II censored sample. A special case where each x_ri,n goes to a particular percentile of the population has been studied by various authors. But for the general situation where the number of gaps as well as the number of unobserved values in some gaps goes to , the asymptotic properties of MLE are still not clear. In this paper, we derive the conditions under which the maximum likelihood estimate of is consistent, asymptotically normal and efficient. As examples, we show that Weibull distribution, Gamma and Logistic distributions all satisfy these conditions.This research was supported in part by the Designated Research Initiative Fund, University of Maryland Baltimore County.