Related papers: Coupling Markov chains with a common image chain

We consider a discrete-time Markov chain $(X^t,Y^t)$, $t=0,1,2,...$, where the $X$-component forms a Markov chain itself. Assume that $(X^t)$ is Harris-ergodic and consider an auxiliary Markov chain ${\hat{Y}^t}$ whose transition…

A general setting for nested subdivisions of a bounded real set into intervals defining the digits $X_1,X_2,...$ of a random variable $X$ with a probability density function $f$ is considered. Under the weak condition that $f$ is almost…

A discrete-time Markov chain can be transformed into a new Markov chain by looking at its states along iterations of an almost surely finite stopping time. By the optional stopping theorem, any bounded harmonic function with respect to the…

This simple note lays out a few observations which are well known in many ways but may not have been said in quite this way before. The basic idea is that when comparing two different Markov chains it is useful to couple them is such a way…

Consider a Markov chain $(X_i)_{i\ge0}$ with invariant measure $\mu$ that admits the representation $X_{i+1}=\Phi(X_i,U_i)$, where $(U_i)_{i\ge0}$ are i.i.d. random variables and $\Phi$ is a measurable map. We introduce a tangent-decoupled…

We consider a random walk on a discrete connected graph having some infinite branches plus finitely many vertices with finite degrees. We find the generator of a strong stationary dual in the sense of Fill, and use it to find some…

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…

There are many Markov chains on infinite dimensional spaces whose one-step transition kernels are mutually singular when starting from different initial conditions. We give results which prove unique ergodicity under minimal assumptions on…

We derive a sufficient condition for a $k$-th order homogeneous Markov chain $\mathbf{Z}$ with finite alphabet $\mathcal{Z}$ to have a unique invariant distribution on $\mathcal{Z}^k$. Specifically, let $\mathbf{X}$ be a first-order,…

We present a novel approach to quantizing Markov chains. The approach is based on the Markov chain coupling method, which is frequently used to prove fast mixing. Given a particular coupling, e.g., a grand coupling, we construct a…

We prove an analog of the classical Zero-One Law for both homogeneous and nonhomogeneous Markov chains (MC). Its almost precise formulation is simple: given any event $A$ from the tail $\sigma$-algebra of MC $(Z_n)$, for large $n$, with…

We consider a form of state-dependent drift condition for a general Markov chain, whereby the chain subsampled at some deterministic time satisfies a geometric Foster-Lyapunov condition. We present sufficient criteria for such a drift…

Let X and Y be time-homogeneous Markov processes with common state space E, and assume that the transition kernels of X and Y admit densities with respect to suitable reference measures. We show that if there is a time t>0 such that, for…

Given an infinitesimal perturbation of a discrete-time finite Markov chain, we seek the states that are stable despite the perturbation, \textit{i.e.} the states whose weights in the stationary distributions can be bounded away from $0$ as…

One often needs to turn a coupling $(X_i, Y_i)_{i\geq 0}$ of a Markov chain into a sticky coupling where once $X_T = Y_T$ at some $T$, then from then on, at each subsequent time step $T'\geq T$, we shall have $X_{T'} = Y_{T'}$. However, not…

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…

We consider a discrete time hidden Markov model where the signal is a stationary Markov chain. When conditioned on the observations, the signal is a Markov chain in a random environment under the conditional measure. It is shown that this…

We consider the computational task of sampling a bit string $x$ from a distribution $\pi(x)=|\langle x|\psi\rangle|^2$, where $\psi$ is the unique ground state of a local Hamiltonian $H$. Our main result describes a direct link between the…

Let X be a continuous-time Markov chain in a finite set I, let h be a mapping of I onto another set, and let Y be defined by Y_t=h(X_t), (for t nonnegative). We address the filtering problem for X in terms of the observation Y, which is not…

The notion of a successful coupling of Markov processes, based on the idea that both components of the coupled system ``intersect'' in finite time with probability one, is extended to cover situations when the coupling is unnecessarily…