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Main Authors: Ballif, Guillaume, Pfeiffer, Laurent, Ruess, Jakob
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.18735
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author Ballif, Guillaume
Pfeiffer, Laurent
Ruess, Jakob
author_facet Ballif, Guillaume
Pfeiffer, Laurent
Ruess, Jakob
contents In this work, we present a general method to establish properties of multi-dimensional continuous-time Markov chains representing stochastic reaction networks. This method consists of grouping states together (via a partition of the state space), then constructing two one-dimensional birth and death processes that lower and upper bound the initial process under simple assumptions on the infinitesimal generators of the processes. The construction of these bounding processes is based on coupling arguments and transport theory. The bounding processes are easy to analyse analytically and numerically and allow us to derive properties on the initial continuous-time Markov chain. We focus on two important properties: the behavior of the process at infinity through the existence of a stationary distribution and the error in truncating the state space to numerically solve the master equation describing the time evolution of the probability distribution of the process. We derive explicit formulas for constructing the optimal bounding processes for a given partition, making the method easy to use in practice. We finally discuss the importance of the choice of the partition to obtain relevant results and illustrate the method on an example chemical reaction network.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_18735
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A partition method for bounding continuous-time Markov chain models of general reaction network
Ballif, Guillaume
Pfeiffer, Laurent
Ruess, Jakob
Probability
60J27, 60G10, 92C40
In this work, we present a general method to establish properties of multi-dimensional continuous-time Markov chains representing stochastic reaction networks. This method consists of grouping states together (via a partition of the state space), then constructing two one-dimensional birth and death processes that lower and upper bound the initial process under simple assumptions on the infinitesimal generators of the processes. The construction of these bounding processes is based on coupling arguments and transport theory. The bounding processes are easy to analyse analytically and numerically and allow us to derive properties on the initial continuous-time Markov chain. We focus on two important properties: the behavior of the process at infinity through the existence of a stationary distribution and the error in truncating the state space to numerically solve the master equation describing the time evolution of the probability distribution of the process. We derive explicit formulas for constructing the optimal bounding processes for a given partition, making the method easy to use in practice. We finally discuss the importance of the choice of the partition to obtain relevant results and illustrate the method on an example chemical reaction network.
title A partition method for bounding continuous-time Markov chain models of general reaction network
topic Probability
60J27, 60G10, 92C40
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.18735