In this short paper, we consider discrete-time Markov chains on lattices as approximations to continuous-time diffusion processes. The approximations can be interpreted as finite difference schemes for the generator of the process. We derive conditions on the diffusion coefficients which permit transition probabilities to match locally first and second moments. We derive a novel formula which expresses how the matching becomes more difficult for larger (absolute) correlations and strongly anisotropic processes, such that instantaneous moves to more distant neighbours on the lattice have to be allowed. Roughly speaking, for non-zero correlations, the distance covered in one timestep is proportional to the ratio of volatilities in the two directions. We discuss the implications to Markov decision processes and the convergence analysis of approximations to Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations in the Barles-Souganidis framework.
We prove that if we are given a generator of a cadlag Markov process and an open domain $G$ in the state space, on which the generator has the local property expressed in a suitable way on a class $\mathcal{C}$ of test functions that is sufficiently rich, then the Markov process has continuous paths when it passes through $G$. The result holds for any Markov process which is associated with the generator merely on $\mathcal{C}$. This points out that the path continuity of the process is an a priori property encrypted by the generator acting on enough test functions, and this property can be ea…
The asymptotic variance is an important criterion to evaluate the performance of Markov chains, especially for the central limit theorems. We give the variational formulas for the asymptotic variance of discrete-time (non-reversible) Markov chains on general state space. The variational formulas provide many applications, extending the classical Peskun's comparison theorem to non-reversible Markov chains, and obtaining several comparison theorems between Markov chains with various perturbations.
In this paper we discuss weak convergence of continuous-time Markov chains to a non-symmetric pure jump process. We approach this problem using Dirichlet forms as well as semimartingales. As an application, we discuss how to approximate a given Markov process by Markov chains.
We review recent results on the metastable behavior of continuous-time Markov chains derived through the characterization of Markov chains as unique solutions of martingale problems.
We study inhomogeneous continuous-time weakly ergodic Markov chains with a finite state space. We introduce the notion of a Markov chain with the regular structure of an infinitesimal matrix and study the sharp upper bounds on the rate of convergence for such class of Markov chains.
In this paper, we present reversibility preserving operations on Markov chain transition matrices. Simple row and column operations allow us to create new reversible transition matrices and yield an easy method for checking a Markov chain for reversibility.
Extensions of Kemeny's constant, as derived for irreducible finite Markov chains in discrete time, to Markov renewal processes and Markov chains in continuous time are discussed. Three alternative Kemeny's functions and their variants are considered. Typically, they lead to a constant if and only if the mean holding times between the states in the Markov renewal process are constant. However one particular variant leads to a constant, analogous to the discrete time Markov chain result. Specifically, if the state space is finite, the weighted sum of the mean first passage times (omitting the me…
We consider the problem of characterising expected hitting times and hitting probabilities for imprecise Markov chains. To this end, we consider three distinct ways in which imprecise Markov chains have been defined in the literature: as sets of homogeneous Markov chains, as sets of more general stochastic processes, and as game-theoretic probability models. Our first contribution is that all these different types of imprecise Markov chains have the same lower and upper expected hitting times, and similarly the hitting probabilities are the same for these three types. Moreover, we provide a ch…
We consider periodic Markov chains with absorption. Applying to iterates of this periodic Markov chain criteria for the exponential convergence of conditional distributions of aperiodic absorbed Markov chains, we obtain exponential estimates for the periodic asymptotic behavior of the semigroup of the Markov chain. This implies in particular the exponential convergence in total variation of the conditional distribution of the Markov chain given non-absorption to a periodic sequence of limit measures and we characterize the cases where this sequence is constant, which corresponds to the cases w…
We study an approximation method of stationary characters of a two-dimensional Markov chain via the Stein method. For this purpose, innovative methods are developed to estimate the moments of the Markov chain, as well as the solution to the Poisson equation with a partial differential operator.
In this paper, we quantify some known approximation to the Curie-Weiss model via applying the Stein method to the Markov chain whose stationary distribution coincides with Curie-Weiss model.
We are interested in studying the sensitivity of diffusion processes or their approximations by Markov Chains with respect to a perturbation of the coefficients.
Improved rates of convergence for ergodic Markov chains and relaxed conditions for them, as well as analogous convergence results for some non-homogeneous Markov chains are studied. The setting from the previous works is extended. Examples are provided where the new bounds are better and where they give the same convergence rate as in the classical Markov -- Dobrushin inequality.
This is the story of the encounter between two worlds: the world of random walks and the world of Variable Length Markov Chains (VLMC). The meeting point turns around the semi-Markov property of underlying processes.
In this paper we are concerned with hitting times of a family of density-dependent Markov chains. A moderate deviation principle of the hitting time is given. The proof of the main theorem relies heavily on moderate deviations of density-dependent Markov chains given in \cite{Xue2021} and upper bounds of large deviations of Markov processes given in \cite{Dupuis1991}. An analogue moderate deviation of the hitting time of the diffusion approximation of the density-dependent Markov chain introduced in \cite{Ethier1986} is also given.
We study certain properties of the function space of autocorrelation functions of Unit Continuous Time Markov Chains (CTMCs). It is shown that under particular conditions, the $L^p$ norm of the autocorrelation function of arbitrary finite state space CTMCs is infinite. Several interesting inferences are made for point processes associated with CTMCs/ Discrete Time Markov Chains (DTMCs).
In this paper we study the additive functionals of Markov chains via conditioning with respect to both past and future of the chain. We shall point out new sufficient projective conditions, which assure that the variance of partial sums of n consecutive random variables of a stationary Markov chain is linear in n. The paper also addresses the central limit theorem problem and is listing several open questions.
On conditions for Dobrushin's Central limit theorem for non-homogeneous Markov chains
A.A. Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems of Russian Academy of Sciences（俄罗斯科学院信息传输问题阿·阿·哈尔维奇研究所）；S.M. Nikol’skii Mathematical Institute, RUDN University（俄罗斯人民友谊大学尼古利斯基数学研究所）；National Research University Higher School of Economics（国立高等经济大学）
The present paper establishes a discrete version of the result obtained by P. Carr and S. Nadtochiy (2011) for 1-dimensional diffusion processes. Our result is for Markov chains on $\mathbf{Z}^d$.
This paper studies the last-column-block-augmented northwest-corner truncation (LC-block-augmented truncation, for short) of discrete-time block-monotone Markov chains under subgeometric drift conditions. The main result of this paper is to present an upper bound for the total variation distance between the stationary probability vectors of a block-monotone Markov chain and its LC-block-augmented truncation. The main result is extended to Markov chains that themselves may not be block monotone but are block-wise dominated by block-monotone Markov chains satisfying modified drift conditions. Fi…
Motivated by the notion of resistance distance on graph, we define a new resistance distance between two states on a given finite ergodic Markov chain based on its fundamental matrix. We prove a few equivalent formulations and discuss its relation with other parameters of the Markov chain such as its group inverse, stationary distribution, eigenvalues or hitting time. In addition, building upon existing sum rules for the hitting time of Markov chain, we give sum rules of this new resistance distance of Markov chains that resembles the sum rules of the resistance distance on graph. This yields …
In this paper we consider Markov chains with transition rates that depend on a small parameter $\varepsilon$. Under a mild assumption on the asymptotics of these transition rates, we describe the behavior of the chain at various $\varepsilon$-dependent time scales, i.e., we calculate the metastable distributions.
We introduce block Markov chains (BMCs) indexed by an infinite rooted tree. It turns out that BMCs define a new class of tree-indexed Markovian processes. We clarify the structure of BMCs in connection with Markov chains (MCs) and Markov random fields (MRFs). Mainly, show that probability measures which are BMCs for every root are indeed Markov chains (MCs) and yet they form a strict subclass of Markov random fields (MRFs) on the considered tree. Conversely, a class of MCs which are BMCs is characterized. Furthermore, we establish that in the one-dimensional case the class of BMCs coincides wi…
It is often possible to speed up the mixing of a Markov chain $\{ X_{t} \}_{t \in \mathbb{N}}$ on a state space $Ω$ by \textit{lifting}, that is, running a more efficient Markov chain $\{ \hat{X}_{t} \}_{t \in \mathbb{N}}$ on a larger state space $\hatΩ \supset Ω$ that projects to $\{ X_{t} \}_{t \in \mathbb{N}}$ in a certain sense. In [CLP99], Chen, Lov{á}sz and Pak prove that for Markov chains on finite state spaces, the mixing time of any lift of a Markov chain is at least the square root of the mixing time of the original chain, up to a factor that depends on the stationary measure. Unfort…
This note presents a simple proof of the monotonicity of the invariant distribution of a discrete Markov chain with a finite state space. This answers a question recently raised by David Siegmund.
The Markov chain approximation of a one-dimensional symmetric diffusion is investigated in this paper. Given an irreducible reflecting diffusion on a closed interval with scale function $s$ and speed measure $m$, the approximating Markov chains are constructed explicitly through the trace of the Dirichlet form corresponding to the diffusion. One feature of our approach is that it does not require uniform ellipticity on diffusion coefficient of the limit object or uniform regularity on conductances of the approximative Markov chains, as imposed usually in the previous related works.
We consider continuous-time Markov chain on a finite state space X. We assume X can be clustered into several subsets such that the intra-transition rates within these subsets are of order $\mathcal{O}(\frac{1}ε)$ comparing to the inter-transition rates among them, where $0 < ε\ll 1$. Several asymptotic results are obtained as $ε\rightarrow 0$ concerning the convergence of Kolmogorov backward equation, Poincaré constant, (modified) logarithmic Sobolev constant to their counterparts of certain reduced Markov chain. Both reversible and irreversible Markov chains are considered.
In this paper we consider stationary Markov chains with trivial two-sided tail sigma field, and prove that additive functionals satisfy the central limit theorem provided the variance of partial sums divided by n is bounded.
We consider a finite state discrete time process X. Without loss of generality the finite state space can be identified with the set of unit vectors {e1, e2, . . . , eN} with ei = (0, . . . , 0, 1, 0, . . . , 0)0 2 RN. For a Markov chain the times the process stays in any state are geometrically distributed. This condition is relaxed for a semi-Markov chain. We first derive the semimartingale dynamics for a semi-Markov chain. We then consider the situation where the chain is observed in noise. We suggest how to estimate the occupation times in the states and derive filters and smoothers for qu…
