Diffusion Limits for Shortest Remaining Processing Time Queues

We present a heavy traffic analysis for a single server queue with renewal arrivals and generally distributed i.i.d. service times, in which the server employs the Shortest Remaining Processing Time (SRPT) policy. Under typical heavy traffic assumptions, we prove a diffusion limit theorem for a measure-valued state descriptor, from which we conclude a similar theorem for the queue length process. These results allow us to make some observations on the queue length optimality of SRPT. In particular, they provide the sharpest illustration of the well-known tension between queue length optimality and quality of service for this policy. AMS 2010 subject classifications. Primary 60K25, 60F17; secondary 60G57, 68M20, 90B22.