Related papers: Order estimation of Markov chains

Markov chains are fundamental models for stochastic dynamics, with applications in a wide range of areas such as population dynamics, queueing systems, reinforcement learning, and Monte Carlo methods. Estimating the transition matrix and…

The two-parameter Macdonald polynomials are a central object of algebraic combinatorics and representation theory. We give a Markov chain on partitions of k with eigenfunctions the coefficients of the Macdonald polynomials when expanded in…

We study the Markov chain on $\mathbf{F}_p$ obtained by applying a function $f$ and adding $\pm\gamma$ with equal probability. When $f$ is a linear function, this is the well-studied Chung--Diaconis--Graham process. We consider two cases:…

This paper is about the rate of convergence of the Markov chain $X_{n+1}=AX_{n}+B_{n}$ (mod $p$), where $A$ is an integer matrix with nonzero eigenvalues and ${B_{n}}_{n}$ is a sequence of independent and identically distributed integer…

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…

We propose a new approach for estimating the finite dimensional transition matrix of a Markov chain using a large number of independent sample paths observed at random times. The sample paths may be observed as few as two times, and the…

Let $\{X_n\}_{n\ge0}$ be a $V$-geometrically ergodic Markov chain. Given some real-valued functional $F$, define $M_n(\alpha):=n^{-1}\sum_{k=1}^nF(\alpha,X_{k-1},X_k)$, $\alpha\in\mathcal{A}\subset \mathbb {R}$. Consider an $M$ estimator…

The limiting probability distribution is one of the key characteristics of a Markov chain since it shows its long-term behavior. In this paper, for a higher order Markov chain, we establish some properties related to its exact limiting…

Adaptive Monte Carlo methods can be viewed as implementations of Markov chains with infinite memory. We derive a general condition for the convergence of a Monte Carlo method whose history dependence is contained within the simulated…

We derive and analyze new diffusion approximations of stationary distributions of Markov chains that are based on second- and higher-order terms in the expansion of the Markov chain generator. Our approximations achieve a higher degree of…

Computing partition functions, the normalizing constants of probability distributions, is often hard. Variants of importance sampling give unbiased estimates of a normalizer Z, however, unbiased estimates of the reciprocal 1/Z are harder to…

In this paper, we study first the problem of nonparametric estimation of the stationary density $f$ of a discrete-time Markov chain $(X_i)$. We consider a collection of projection estimators on finite dimensional linear spaces. We select an…

Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms are often used for approximate inference inside learning, but their slow mixing can be difficult to diagnose and the approximations can seriously degrade learning. To alleviate these issues, we…

When the initial and transition probabilities of a finite Markov chain in discrete time are not well known, we should perform a sensitivity analysis. This can be done by considering as basic uncertainty models the so-called credal sets that…

Consider an ergodic Markov chain on a countable state space for which the return times have exponential tails. We show that the stationary version of any such chain is a finitary factor of an i.i.d. process. A key step is to show that any…

This paper is devoted to the convergence analysis of stochastic approximation algorithms of the form $\theta\_{n+1} = \theta\_n + \gamma\_{n+1} H\_{\theta\_n}(X\_{n+1})$ where $\{\theta\_nn, n \geq 0\}$ is a $R^d$-valued sequence,…

In this paper we develop a method to compute the solution to a countable (finite or infinite) set of equations that occurs in many different fields including Markov processes that model queueing systems, birth-and-death processes and…

Interval Markov chains extend classical Markov chains with the possibility to describe transition probabilities using intervals, rather than exact values. While the standard formulation of interval Markov chains features closed intervals,…

In recent decades, a number of profound theorems concerning approximation of hard counting problems have appeared. These include estimation of the permanent, estimating the volume of a convex polyhedron, and counting (approximately) the…

We consider a class of small-sample distribution estimators over noisy channels. Our estimators are designed for repetition channels, and rely on properties of the runs of the observed sequences. These runs are modeled via a special type of…