Time change is one of the most basic and very useful transformations for Markov processes. The time changed process can also be regarded as the trace of the original process on the support of the Revuz measure used in the time change. In this paper we give a complete characterization of time changed processes of an arbitrary symmetric Markov process, in terms of the Beurling--Deny decomposition of their associated Dirichlet forms and of Feller measures of the process. In particular, we determine the jumping and killing measure (or, equivalently, the Lévy system) for the time-changed process. We further discuss when the trace Dirichlet form for the time changed process can be characterized as the space of finite Douglas integrals defined by Feller measures. Finally, we give a probabilistic characterization of Feller measures in terms of the excursions of the base process.
It is shown that transient graphs for the simple random walk do not admit a nearest neighbor transient Markov chain (not necessarily a reversible one), that crosses all edges with positive probability, while there is such chain for the square grid $\mathbb{Z}^2$. In particular, the $d$-dimensional grid $\mathbb{Z}^d$ admits such a Markov chain only when $d=2$. For $d=2$ we present a relevant example due to Gady Kozma, while the general statement for transient graphs is obtained by proving that for every transient irreducible Markov chain on a countable state space, which admits a stationary me…
In this paper, we investigate spectral properties of explosive symmetric Markov processes. Under a condition on its life time, we prove the $L^1$-semigroup of Markov processes become compact operators.
We give some relationships between the first Dirichlet eigenvalues and the exit time moments for the general symmetric Markov processes. As applications, we present some examples, including symmetric diffusions and $α$-stable processes, and provide the estimates of their first Dirichlet eigenvalues and the exit time moments.
Let $X$ be an irreducible symmetric Markov process with the strong Feller property. We assume, in addition, that $X$ is explosive and has a tightness property. We then prove the existence and uniqueness of quasi-stationary distributions of $X$.
For each $n$ let $Y^n_t$ be a continuous time symmetric Markov chain with state space $n^{-1} \Z^d$. A condition in terms of the conductances is given for the convergence of the $Y^n_t$ to a symmetric Markov process $Y_t$ on $\R^d$. We have weak convergence of $\{Y^n_t: t\leq t_0\}$ for every $t_0$ and every starting point. The limit process $Y$ has a continuous part and may also have jumps.
By making full use of heat kernel estimates, we establish the integral tests on the zero-one laws of upper and lower bounds for the sample path ranges of symmetric Markov processes. In particular, these results concerning on upper rate bounds are applicable for local and non-local Dirichlet forms, while lower rate bounds are investigated in both subcritical setting and critical setting.
Nakao's stochastic integrals for continuous additive functionals of zero energy are extended from the symmetric Dirichlet forms setting to the non-symmetric Dirichlet forms setting. Ito's formula in terms of the extended stochastic integrals is obtained.
We study Girsanov's theorem in the context of symmetric Markov processes, extending earlier work of Fukushima-Takeda and Fitzsimmons on Girsanov transformations of ``gradient type.'' We investigate the most general Girsanov transformation leading to another symmetric Markov process. This investigation requires an extension of the forward-backward martingale method of Lyons-Zheng, to cover the case of processes with jumps.
Using the method of transportation-information inequality introduced in \cite{GLWY}, we establish Bernstein type's concentration inequalities for empirical means $\frac 1t \int_0^t g(X_s)ds$ where $g$ is a unbounded observable of the symmetric Markov process $(X_t)$. Three approaches are proposed : functional inequalities approach ; Lyapunov function method ; and an approach through the Lipschitzian norm of the solution to the Poisson equation. Several applications and examples are studied.
The spatial symmetry property of truncated birth-death processes studied in Di Crescenzo [6] is extended to a wider family of continuous-time Markov chains. We show that it yields simple expressions for first-passage-time densities and avoiding transition probabilities, and apply it to a bilateral birth-death process with jumps. It is finally proved that this symmetry property is preserved within the family of strongly similar Markov chains.
We consider symmetric Markov chains on $\Bbb Z^d$ where we do {\bf not} assume that the conductance between two points must be zero if the points are far apart. Under a uniform second moment condition on the conductances, we obtain upper bounds on the transition probabilities, estimates for exit time probabilities, and certain lower bounds on the transition probabilities. We show that a uniform Harnack inequality holds if an additional assumption is made, but that without this assumption such an inequality need not hold. We establish a central limit theorem giving conditions for a sequence of …
Using time-reversal, we introduce a stochastic integral for zero-energy additive functionals of symmetric Markov processes, extending earlier work of S. Nakao. Various properties of such stochastic integrals are discussed and an Itô formula for Dirichlet processes is obtained.
We consider a large class of symmetric pure jump Markov processes dominated by isotropic unimodal Lévy processes with weak scaling conditions. First, we establish sharp two-sided heat kernel estimates for these processes in $C^{1,1}$ open sets. As corollaries of our main results, we obtain sharp two-sided Green function estimates and a scale invariant boundary Harnack inequality with explicit decay rates in $C^{1,1}$ open sets.
According to the theory of functional inequalities, a non-symmetric Markov semigroup has better properties than the corresponding symmetric one. For instance, there exist non-symmetric Markov semigroups which are hypercontractive (and thus converge exponentially in both $L^2$ and entropy), but the symmetric ones are even not ergodic. In this paper, we aim to search for reasonable conditions to ensure that a non-symmetric Markov semigroup and its symmetrization share the properties of exponential convergence, uniform integrability, hypercontractivity, and supercontractivity. Since in the symmet…
We study distributions of meeting times for finite symmetric Markov chains. For Markov kernels defined on large state spaces which satisfy certain weak inhomogeneity in return probabilities of points up to large numbers of steps, we obtain approximation, with explicit error bounds, of the Laplace transforms of some meeting times (without scaling) by ratios of Green functions closely related to hitting times of points. In studying this approximation, we identify some key matrix power series in Markov kernels weighted with solutions to a discrete transport-like equation with explicit coefficient…
We consider continuous-time Markov chains which display a family of wells at the same depth. We provide sufficient conditions which entail the convergence of the finite-dimensional distributions of the order parameter to the ones of a finite state Markov chain. We also show that the state of the process can be represented as a time-dependent convex combination of metastable states, each of which is supported on one well.
In this paper, we establish sharp two-sided heat kernel estimates for a large class of symmetric Markov processes in exterior $C^{1,η}$ open sets for all $t> 0$. The processes are symmetric pure jump Markov processes with jumping kernel intensity $$κ(x, y)ψ(|x-y|)^{-1}|x-y|^{-d-α}$$ where $α\in(0,2)$, $ψ$ is an increasing function on $[ 0, \infty)$ with $ψ(r)=1$ on $0<r\le 1$ and $c_1e^{c_2r^β}\le ψ(r)\le c_3e^{c_4r^β}$ on $r>1$ for $β\in[0, \infty]$. A symmetric function $κ(x, y)$ is bounded by two positive constants and $|κ(x, y)-κ(x,x)|\le c_5 |x-y|^ρ$ for $|x-y|<1$ and $ρ>α/2$. As a coroll…
In this paper, we study sharp Dirichlet heat kernel estimates for a large class of symmetric Markov processes in $C^{1,η}$ open sets. The processes are symmetric pure jump Markov processes with jumping intensity $κ(x,y) ψ_1 (|x-y|)^{-1} |x-y|^{-d-α}$, where $α\in (0,2)$. Here, $ψ_1$ is an increasing function on $[ 0, \infty )$, with $ψ_1(r)=1$ on $0<r \le 1$ and $c_1e^{c_2r^β} \le ψ_1(r) \le c_3 e^{c_4r^β}$ on $r>1$ for $β\in [0,\infty]$, and $ κ( x, y)$ is a symmetric function confined between two positive constants, with $|κ(x,y)-κ(x,x)|\leq c_5|x-y|^ρ$ for $|x-y|<1$ and $ρ>α/2$. We establis…
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.
We show that the class of inductive limits of the representations of finite symmetric groups with simple spectrum coinsides with the class of Markov representations of the infinite symmetric group associated with Markov measures on the space of infinite Young tableaux. We also show that the representations of infinite symmetric group induced from identity representation of two-block Young subgroup are Markov representations and find explicit formulas for transition probabilities of corresponding Markov measure on the Young diagrmas. Induced two-row representations of finite symmetric group are…
Markov chain approximations of symmetric jump processes are investigated. Tightness results and a central limit theorem are established. Moreover, given the generator of a symmetric jump process with state space $\mathbbm{R}^d$ the approximating Markov chains are constructed explicitly. As a byproduct we obtain a definition of the Sobolev space $H^{α/2}(\mathbbm{R}^d)$, $α\in (0,2)$, that is equivalent to the standard one.
In this paper, we introduce the notion of $L^p$-Green-tight measures of $L^p$-Kato class in the framework of symmetric Markov processes. The class of $L^p$-Green-tight measures of $L^p$-Kato class is defined by the $p$-th power of resolvent kernels. We first prove that under the $L^p$-Green tightness of the measure $μ$, the embedding of extended Dirichlet space into $L^{2p}(E;μ)$ is compact under the absolute continuity condition for transient Markov processes, which is an extension of recent seminal work by Takeda. Secondly, we prove the coincidence between two classes of $L^p$-Green-tightnes…
In this paper, when a given symmetric Markov process X satisfies the stability of global heat kernel two-sided (upper) estimates by Markov perturbations, we give a necessary and sufficient condition on the stability of global two-sided (upper) estimates for fundamental solution of Feynman-Kac semigroup of X. As a corollary, under the same assumptions, a weak type global two-sided (upper) estimates holds for the fundamental solution of Feynman-Kac semigroup with (extended) Kato class conditions for measures. This generalizes all known results on the stability of global integral kernel estimates…
We refine stochastic calculus for symmetric Markov processes without using time reverse operators. Under some conditions on the jump functions of locally square integrable martingale additive functionals, we extend Nakao's divergence-like continuous additive functional of zero energy and the stochastic integral with respect to it under the law for quasi-everywhere starting points, which are refinements of the previous results under the law for almost everywhere starting points. This refinement of stochastic calculus enables us to establish a generalized Fukushima decomposition for a certain cl…
In this paper, we establish a spatial central limit theorem for a large class of supercritical branching, not necessarily symmetric, Markov processes with spatially dependent branching mechanisms satisfying a second moment condition. This central limit theorem generalizes and unifies all the central limit theorems obtained recently in \cite{RSZ2} for supercritical branching symmetric Markov processes. To prove our central limit theorem, we have to carefully develop the spectral theory of nonsymmetric strongly continuous semigroups which should be of independent interest.
We study the complex free field associated with a symmetric Markov chain. Applications are given to loop ensembles, second Ray Knight theorem and random Eulerian circuits.
It is well known that Nash-type inequalities for symmetric Dirichlet forms are equivalent to on-diagonal heat kernel upper bounds for the associated symmetric Markov semigroups. In this paper, we show that both imply (and hence are equivalent to) off-diagonal heat kernel upper bounds under some mild assumptions. Our approach is based on a new generalized Davies' method. Our results extend that of \cite{CKS} for Nash-type inequalities with power order considerably and also extend that of \cite{Gri} for second order differential operators on a complete non-compact manifold.
In this paper, we establish the coincidence of two classes of $L^p$-Kato class measures in the framework of symmetric Markov processes admitting upper and lower estimates of heat kernel under mild conditions. One class of $L^p$-Kato class measures is defined by the $p$-th power of positive order resolvent kernel, another is defined in terms of the $p$-th power of Green kernel depending on some exponents related to the heat kernel estimates. We also prove that $q$-th integrable functions on balls with radius $1$ having uniformity of its norm with respect to centers are of $L^p$-Kato class if $q…
We find necessary and sufficient conditions for a finite $K$-bi-invariant measure on a compact Gelfand pair $(G, K)$ to have a square-integrable density. For convolution semigroups, this is equivalent to having a continuous density in positive time. When $(G,K)$ is a compact Riemannian symmetric pair, we study the induced transition density for $G$-invariant Feller processes on the symmetric space $X = G/K$. These are obtained as projections of $K$-bi-invariant Lévy processes on $G$, whose laws form a convolution semigroup. We obtain a Fourier series expansion for the density, in terms of sphe…
Extending the approach of the paper [Mathieu, P. (1997) Hitting times and spectral gap inequalities, Ann. Inst. Henri Poincare 33, 4, 437 -- 465], we prove that the Poincare inequality for a (possibly non-symmetric) Markov process yields the exponential integrability of the hitting times of this process. For symmetric elliptic diffusions, this provides a criterion for the Poincare inequality in the terms of hitting times.
We establish the equivalence of the analytic and probabilistic notions of subharmonicity in the framework of general symmetric Hunt processes on locally compact separable metric spaces, extending an earlier work of the first named author on the equivalence of the analytic and probabilistic notions of harmonicity. As a corollary, we prove a strong maximum principle for locally bounded finely continuous subharmonic functions in the space of functions locally in the domain of the Dirichlet form under some natural conditions.
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.
It is shown that the second term in the asymptotic expansion as $t\to 0$ of the trace of the semigroup of symmetric stable processes (fractional powers of the Laplacian) of order $α$, for any $0<α<2$, in Lipschitz domains is given by the surface area of the boundary of the domain. This brings the asymptotics for the trace of stable processes in domains of Euclidean space on par with those of Brownian motion (the Laplacian), as far as boundary smoothness is concerned.
The "carries" when n random numbers are added base b form a Markov chain with an "amazing" transition matrix determined by Holte. This same Markov chain occurs in following the number of descents or rising sequences when n cards are repeatedly riffle shuffled. We give generating and symmetric function proofs and determine the rate of convergence of this Markov chain to stationarity. Similar results are given for type B shuffles. We also develop connections with Gaussian autoregressive processes and the Veronese mapping of commutative algebra.
Given a (conservative) symmetric Markov process on a metric space we consider related bilinear forms that generalize the energy form for a particle in an electromagnetic field. We obtain one bilinear form by semigroup approximation and another, closed one, by using a Feynman-Kac-Itô formula. If the given process is Feller, its energy measures have densities and its jump measure has a kernel, then the two forms agree on a core and the second is a closed extension of the first. In this case we provide the explicit form of the associated Hamiltonian.
We study model embeddability, which is a variation of the famous embedding problem in probability theory, when apart from the requirement that the Markov matrix is the matrix exponential of a rate matrix, we additionally ask that the rate matrix follows the model structure. We provide a characterisation of model embeddable Markov matrices corresponding to symmetric group-based phylogenetic models. In particular, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions in terms of the eigenvalues of symmetric group-based matrices. To showcase our main result on model embeddability, we provide an applicat…
We extend the conductance and canonical paths methods to the setting of general finite Markov chains, including non-reversible non-lazy walks. The new path method is used to show that a known bound for mixing time of a lazy walk on a Cayley graph with symmetric generating set also applies to the non-lazy non-symmetric case, often even when there is no holding probability.
Chen, Fitzsimmons, Kuwae and Zhang (Ann. Probab. 36 (2008) 931-970) have established an Ito formula consisting in the development of F(u(X)) for a symmetric Markov process X, a function u in the Dirichlet space of X and any $\mathcal{C}^2$-function F. We give here an extension of this formula for u locally in the Dirichlet space of X and F admitting a locally bounded Radon-Nikodym derivative. This formula has some analogies with various extended Ito formulas for semi-martingales using the local time stochastic calculus. But here the part of the local time is played by a process $(Γ^a_t,a\in \m…
We give a criterion of the form Q(d)c(M)<1 for the non-reconstructability of tree-indexed q-state Markov chains obtained by broadcasting a signal from the root with a given transition matrix M. Here c(M) is an explicit function, which is convex over the set of M's with a given invariant distribution, that is defined in terms of a (q-1)-dimensional variational problem over symmetric entropies. Further Q(d) is the expected number of offspring on the Galton-Watson tree. This result is equivalent to proving the extremality of the free boundary condition-Gibbs measure within the corresponding Gibbs…
