The goal of this expository paper is to describe conditions which guarantee a central limit theorem for functionals of general state space Markov chains. This is done with a view towards Markov chain Monte Carlo settings and hence the focus is on the connections between drift and mixing conditions and their implications. In particular, we consider three commonly cited central limit theorems and discuss their relationship to classical results for mixing processes. Several motivating examples are given which range from toy one-dimensional settings to complicated settings encountered in Markov chain Monte Carlo.
Our purpose is to prove central limit theorem for countable nonhomogeneous Markov chain under the condition of uniform convergence of transition probability matrices for countable nonhomogeneous Markov chain in Cesàro sense. Furthermore, we obtain a corresponding moderate deviation theorem for countable nonhomogeneous Markov chain by Gärtner-Ellis theorem and exponential equivalent method.
The upper extremes of a Markov chain with regulary varying stationary marginal distribution are known to exhibit under general conditions a multiplicative random walk structure called the tail chain. More generally, if the Markov chain is allowed to switch from positive to negative extremes or vice versa, the distribution of the tail chain increment may depend on the sign of the tail chain on the previous step. But even then, the forward and backward tail chain mutually determine each other through a kind of adjoint relation. As a consequence, the finite-dimensional distributions of the Markov…
The goal of this paper is to describe conditions which guarantee a central limit theorem for random variables, which distributions are controled by hidden Markov chains. We proved that when a Markov chain is ergodic and random variables fullfiled Lindeberg's condition then the Central Limit Theorem is true.
In this paper, we study a notion of local stationarity for discrete time Markov chains which is useful for applications in statistics. In the spirit of some locally stationary processes introduced in the literature, we consider triangular arrays of time-inhomogeneous Markov chains, defined by some families of contracting Markov kernels. Using the Dobrushin's contraction coefficients for various metrics, we show that the distribution of such Markov chains can be approximated locally with the distribution of ergodic Markov chains and we also study some mixing properties. From our approximation r…
The main objective of this paper is to establish bootstrap uniform functional central limit theorem for Harris recurrent Markov chains over uniformly bounded classes of functions. We show that the result can be generalized also to the unbounded case. To avoid some complicated mixing conditions, we make use of the well-known regeneration properties of Markov chains. We show that in the atomic case the proof of the bootstrap uniform central limit theorem for Markov chains for functions dominated by a function in $L^{2}$ space proposed by Radulović (2004) can be significantly simplified. Finally,…
We consider the problem of statistical inference in a parametric finite Markov chain model and develop a robust estimator of the parameters defining the transition probabilities via minimization of a suitable (empirical) version of the popular density power divergence. Based on a long sequence of observations from a first-order stationary Markov chain, we have defined the minimum density power divergence estimator (MDPDE) of the underlying parameter and rigorously derived its asymptotic and robustness properties under appropriate conditions. Performance of the MDPDEs is illustrated theoretical…
We consider dependence coefficients for stationary Markov chains. We emphasize on some equivalencies for reversible Markov chains. We improve some known results and provide a necessary condition for Markov chains based on Archimedean copulas to be exponential $ρ$-mixing. We analyze the example of the Mardia and Frechet copula families using small sets.
We prove that moderate deviations for empirical measures for countable nonhomogeneous Markov chains hold under the assumption of uniform convergence of transition probability matrices for countable nonhomogeneous Markov chains in Cesàro sense.
This paper brings some insights of $ψ'$-mixing, $ψ^*$-mixing and $ψ$-mixing for copula-based Markov chains and the perturbations of their copulas. We provide new tools to check Markov chains for $ψ$-mixing or $ψ'$-mixing, and also show that perturbations of $ψ'$-mixing copula-based Markov chains are $ψ'$-mixing while perturbations of $ψ$-mixing Markov chains are not necessarily $ψ$-mixing Markov chains, even when the perturbed copula is $ψ-mixing$. Some examples of copula families are considered. A statistical study is provided to emphasize the impact of perturbations on copula-based Markov ch…
For a Markov chain both the detailed balance condition and the cycle Kolmogorov condition are algebraic binomials. This remark suggests to study reversible Markov chains with the tool of Algebraic Statistics, such as toric statistical models. One of the results of this study in an algebraic parameterization of reversible Markov transitions and their invariant probability.
This article continues our study of Markovian consistency and Markov copulae. In particular, we characterize the weak Markovian consistency for finite Markov chains. We discuss some aspects of dependence between the components of a multivariate Markov chain in the context of weak Markovian consistency and strong Markovian consistency. In this connection, we also introduce and discuss the concept of weak Markov copulae.
We consider the Markov chain approximations for singular stable-like processes. First we obtain properties of some Markov chains. Then we construct the approximating Markov chains and give a necessary condition for weak convergence of these chains to singular stable-like processes.
Given a strongly stationary Markov chain and a finite set of stopping rules, we prove the existence of a polynomial algorithm which projects the Markov chain onto a minimal Markov chain without redundant information. Markov complexity is hence defined and tested on some classical problems.
We consider a class of continuous time Markov chains on $\Z^d$. These chains are the discrete space analogue of Markov processes with jumps. Under some conditions, we show that harmonic functions associated with these Markov chains are Hölder continuous.
We consider the higher-order Markov Chain, and characterize the second order Markov chains admitting every probability distribution vector as a stationary vector. The result is used to construct Markov chains of higher-order with the same property. We also study conditions under which the set of stationary vectors of the Markov chain has a certain affine dimension.
All one-condition generalized inverses of the Markovian kernel I - P, where P is the transition matrix of a finite irreducible Markov chain, can be uniquely specified in terms of the stationary probabilities and the mean first passage times of the underlying Markov chain. Special sub-families include the group inverse of I - P, Kemeny and Snell's fundamental matrix of the Markov chain and the Moore-Penrose g-inverse. The elements of some sub-families of the generalized inverses can also be re-expressed involving the second moments of the recurrence time variables. Some applications to Kemeny's…
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.
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.
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.
In this paper we continue the study of conditional Markov chains (CMCs) with finite state spaces, that we initiated in Bielecki, Jakubowski and Niewęgłowski (2015). Here, we turn our attention to the study of Markov consistency and Markov copulae with regard to CMCs, and thus we follow up on the study of Markov consistency and Markov copulae for ordinary Markov chains that we presented in Bielecki, Jakubowski and Niewęgłowski (2013).
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.
We define fully coupled forward-backward stochastic differential equations on spaces related to continuous time, finite state Markov Chains. Existence and uniqueness results of the fully coupled forward-backward stochastic differential equations on Markov Chains are obtained.
The main purpose of this work is to study self-similar branching Markov chains. First we will construct such a process. Then we will establish certain Limit Theorems using the theory of self-similar Markov processes.
We prove that an irreducible aperiodic Markov chain is geometrically ergodic if and only if any separately bounded functional of the stationary chain satisfies an appropriate subgaussian deviation inequality from its mean.
This paper studies the augmented truncation of discrete-time block-monotone Markov chains under geometric drift conditions. We first present a bound for the total variation distance between the stationary distributions of an original Markov chain and its augmented truncation. We also obtain such error bounds for more general cases where an original Markov chain itself may not be block-monotone but is block-wise dominated by a block-monotone Markov chain. Finally we discuss the application of our results to GI/G/1-type Markov chains.
We study a multivariate Markov chain on the symmetric group with remarkable enumerative properties. We conjecture that the stationary distribution of this Markov chain can be expressed in terms of positive sums of Schubert polynomials. This Markov chain is a multivariate generalization of a Markov chain introduced by the first author in the study of random affine Weyl group elements.
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.
Let $(ξ_n)_{n=0}^\infty$ be a nonhomogeneous Markov chain taking values from finite state-space of $\mathbf{X}=\{1,2,\ldots,b\}$. In this paper, we will study the generalized entropy ergodic theorem with almost-everywhere and $\mathcal{L}_1$ convergence for nonhomogeneous Markov chains, which generalizes the corresponding classical results for the Markov chains.
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.
Starting from a Markov chain with a finite alphabet, we consider the chain obtained when all but one symbol are undistinguishable for the practitioner. We study necessary and sufficient conditions for this chain to have continuous transition probabilities with respect to the past.
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.
In this paper we study the almost sure central limit theorem started from a point for additive functionals of a stationary and ergodic Markov chain via a martingale approximation in the almost sure sense. As a consequence we derive the quenched CLT for additive functionals or reversible Markov chains.
Stemmed from the derivation of the optimal control to a stochastic linear-quadratic control problem with Markov jumps, we study one kind of backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs) that the generator f is affected by a Markovian switching. Then, the case that the Markov chain is involved in a large state space is considered. Following the classical approach, a hierarchical approach is adopted to reduce the complexity and a singularly perturbed Markov chain is involved. We will study the asymptotic property of BSDE with the singularly perturbed Markov chain. At last, as an application…
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 (backward) stochastic differential equations with noise coming from a finite state Markov chain. We show that, for the solutions of these equations to be `Markovian', in the sense that they are deterministic functions of the state of the underlying chain, the integrand must be of a specific form. This allows us to connect these equations to coupled systems of ODEs, and hence to give fast numerical methods for the evaluation of Markov-Chain BSDEs.
We consider a time-homogeneous Markov chain $X_n$, $n\ge0$, valued in ${\bf R}$. Suppose that this chain is transient, that is, $X_n$ generates a $σ$-finite renewal measure. We prove the key renewal theorem under condition that this chain has asymptotically homogeneous at infinity jumps and asymptotically positive drift.
Given a finite Markov chain, we investigate the first minors of the transition matrix of a lifting of this Markov chain to covering trees. In a simple case we exhibit a nice factorisation of these minors, and we conjecture that it holds more generally.
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.
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 $\mathbf{Z}^d$.
We derive an adiabatic theorem for Markov chains using well known facts about mixing and relaxation times. We discuss the results in the context of the recent developments in adiabatic quantum computation.
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 …
