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Coefficients of ergodicity for stochastically monotone Markov chains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2016

G. Ch. Pflug*
Affiliation:
University of Vienna
W. Schachermayer*
Affiliation:
University of Vienna
*
Postal address: Universität Wien, Institut für Statistik und Informatik, Universitätstrasse 5/9, A-1010 Wien, Austria.
Postal address: Universität Wien, Institut für Statistik und Informatik, Universitätstrasse 5/9, A-1010 Wien, Austria.

Abstract

In this paper we show that to each distance d defined on the finite state space S of a strongly ergodic Markov chain there corresponds a coefficient ρd of ergodicity based on the Wasserstein metric. For a class of stochastically monotone transition matrices P, the infimum over all such coefficients is given by the spectral radius of P – R, where R = limkPk and is attained. This result has a probabilistic interpretation of a control of the speed of convergence of by the metric d and is linked to the second eigenvalue of P.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Applied Probability Trust 1992 

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