In this paper, we develop a new approach to studying the asymptotic behavior of fluid model solutions for critically loaded processor sharing queues. For this, we introduce a notion of relative entropy associated with measure-valued fluid model solutions. In contrast to the approach used in [12], which does not readily generalize to networks of processor sharing queues, we expect the approach developed in this paper to be more robust. Indeed, we anticipate that similar notions involving relative entropy may be helpful for understanding the asymptotic behavior of critical fluid model solutions for stochastic networks operating under various resource sharing protocols naturally described by measure-valued processes.

This paper provides an introduction to the Stein method framework in the context of steady-state diffusion approximations. The framework consists of three components: the Poisson equation and gradient bounds, generator coupling, and moment bounds. Working in the setting of the Erlang-A and Erlang-C models, we prove that both Wasserstein and Kolmogorov distances between the stationary distribution of a normalized customer count process, and that of an appropriately defined diffusion process decrease at a rate of $1/\sqrt{R}$, where $R$ is the offered load. Futhermore, these error bounds are universal, valid in any load condition from lightly loaded to heavily loaded.

Particle island models [31] provide a means of parallelization of sequential Monte Carlo methods, and in this paper we present novel convergence results for algorithms of this sort. In particular we establish a central limit theorem—as the number of islands and the common size of the islands tend jointly to infinity—of the double bootstrap algorithm with possibly adaptive selection on the island level. For this purpose we introduce a notion of archipelagos of weighted islands and find conditions under which a set of convergence properties are preserved by different operations on such archipelagos. This theory allows arbitrary compositions of these operations to be straightforwardly analyzed, providing a very flexible framework covering the double bootstrap algorithm as a special case. Finally, we establish the long-term numerical stability of the double bootstrap algorithm by bounding its asymptotic variance under weak and easily checked assumptions satisfied typically for models with non-compact state space.

A variety of problems in computing, service, and manufacturing systems can be modeled via infinite repeating Markov chains with an infinite number of levels and a finite number of phases. Many such chains are quasi-birth-death processes with transitions that are skip-free in level, in that one can only transition between consecutive levels, and unidirectional in phase, in that one can only transition from lower-numbered phases to higher-numbered phases. We present a procedure, which we call Clearing Analysis on Phases (CAP), for determining the limiting probabilities of such Markov chains exactly. The CAP method yields the limiting probability of each state in the repeating portion of the chain as a linear combination of scalar bases raised to a power corresponding to the level of the state. The weights in these linear combinations can be determined by solving a finite system of linear equations.

An asymptotic framework for optimal control of multiclass stochastic processing networks, using formal diffusion approximations under suitable temporal and spatial scaling, by Brownian control problems (BCP) and their equivalent workload formulations (EWF), has been developed by Harrison (1988). This framework has been implemented in many works for constructing asymptotically optimal control policies for a broad range of stochastic network models. To date all asymptotic optimality results for such networks correspond to settings where the solution of the EWF is a reflected Brownian motion in $\mathbb{R} _{+}$ or a wedge in $\mathbb{R} _{+}^{2}$. In this work we consider a well studied stochastic network which is perhaps the simplest example of a model with more than one dimensional workload process. In the regime considered here, the singular control problem corresponding to the EWF does not have a simple form explicit solution. However, by considering an associated free boundary problem one can give a representation for an optimal controlled process as a two dimensional reflected Brownian motion in a Lipschitz domain whose boundary is determined by the solution of the free boundary problem. Using the form of the optimal solution we propose a sequence of control policies, given in terms of suitable thresholds, for the scaled stochastic network control problems and prove that this sequence of policies is asymptotically optimal. As suggested by the solution of the EWF, the policy we propose requires a server to idle under certain conditions which are specified in terms of thresholds determined from the free boundary.

We study a fork-join network with a single class of jobs, which are forked into a fixed number of parallel tasks upon arrival to be processed at the corresponding multi-server stations. After service completion, each task will join a buffer associated with the service station waiting for synchronization, called “unsynchronized queue”. The synchronization rule requires that all tasks from the same job must be completed, referred to as “non-exchangeable synchronization”. Once synchronized, jobs will leave the system immediately. Service times of the parallel tasks of each job can be correlated and form a sequence of i.i.d. random vectors with a general continuous joint distribution function. We study the joint dynamics of the queueing and service processes at all stations and the associated unsynchronized queueing processes.

The main mathematical challenge lies in the “resequencing” of arrival orders after service completion at each station. As in Lu and Pang (2015) for the infinite-server fork-join network model, the dynamics of all the aforementioned processes can be represented via a multiparameter sequential empirical process driven by the service vectors for the parallel tasks of each job. We consider the system in the Halfin-Whitt regime, and prove a functional law of large number and a functional central limit theorem for queueing and synchronization processes. In this regime, although the delay for service at each station is asymptotically negligible, the delay for synchronization is of the same order as the service times.