Large Time Behaviour and the Second Eigenvalue Problem for Finite State Mean-Field Interacting Particle Systems

This article examines large time behaviour of finite state mean-field interacting particle systems. Our first main result is a sharp estimate (in the exponential scale) on the time required for convergence of the empirical measure process of the $N$-particle system to its invariant measure; we show that when time is of the order of $\exp\{N\Lambda\}$ for a suitable constant $\Lambda \geq 0$, the process has mixed well and it is close to its invariant measure. We then obtain large-$N$ asymptotics of the second largest eigenvalue of the generator associated with the empirical measure process when it is reversible with respect to its invariant measure. We show that its absolute value scales as $\exp\{-N\Lambda\}$. The main tools used in establishing our results are the large deviation properties of the empirical measure process from its large-$N$ limit. As an application of the study of large time behaviour, we also show convergence of the empirical measure of the system of particles to a global minimum of a certain `entropy' function when particles are added over time in a controlled fashion. The controlled addition of particles is analogous to the cooling schedule associated with the search for a global minimum of a function using the simulated annealing algorithm.