Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hansen, Mads Chr, Wiuf, Carsten, Xu, Chuang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.06186
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866915031201873920
author Hansen, Mads Chr
Wiuf, Carsten
Xu, Chuang
author_facet Hansen, Mads Chr
Wiuf, Carsten
Xu, Chuang
contents We study continuous-time Markov chains on the non-negative integers under mild regularity conditions (in particular, the set of jump vectors is finite and both forward and backward jumps are possible). Based on the so-called flux balance equation, we derive an iterative formula for calculating stationary measures. Specifically, a stationary measure $π(x)$ evaluated at $x\in\N_0$ is represented as a linear combination of a few generating terms, similarly to the characterization of a stationary measure of a birth-death process, where there is only one generating term, $π(0)$. The coefficients of the linear combination are recursively determined in terms of the transition rates of the Markov chain. For the class of Markov chains we consider, there is always at least one stationary measure (up to a scaling constant). We give various results pertaining to uniqueness and non-uniqueness of stationary measures, and show that the dimension of the linear space of signed invariant measures is at most the number of generating terms. A minimization problem is constructed in order to compute stationary measures numerically. Moreover, a heuristic linear approximation scheme is suggested for the same purpose by first approximating the generating terms. The correctness of the linear approximation scheme is justified in some special cases. Furthermore, a decomposition of the state space into different types of states (open and closed irreducible classes, and trapping, escaping and neutral states) is presented. Applications to stochastic reaction networks are well illustrated.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_06186
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Stationary measures of continuous time Markov chains with applications to stochastic reaction networks
Hansen, Mads Chr
Wiuf, Carsten
Xu, Chuang
Probability
We study continuous-time Markov chains on the non-negative integers under mild regularity conditions (in particular, the set of jump vectors is finite and both forward and backward jumps are possible). Based on the so-called flux balance equation, we derive an iterative formula for calculating stationary measures. Specifically, a stationary measure $π(x)$ evaluated at $x\in\N_0$ is represented as a linear combination of a few generating terms, similarly to the characterization of a stationary measure of a birth-death process, where there is only one generating term, $π(0)$. The coefficients of the linear combination are recursively determined in terms of the transition rates of the Markov chain. For the class of Markov chains we consider, there is always at least one stationary measure (up to a scaling constant). We give various results pertaining to uniqueness and non-uniqueness of stationary measures, and show that the dimension of the linear space of signed invariant measures is at most the number of generating terms. A minimization problem is constructed in order to compute stationary measures numerically. Moreover, a heuristic linear approximation scheme is suggested for the same purpose by first approximating the generating terms. The correctness of the linear approximation scheme is justified in some special cases. Furthermore, a decomposition of the state space into different types of states (open and closed irreducible classes, and trapping, escaping and neutral states) is presented. Applications to stochastic reaction networks are well illustrated.
title Stationary measures of continuous time Markov chains with applications to stochastic reaction networks
topic Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.06186