Open AccessVirtual Markov Chains
Author(s) -
Steven N. Evans,
Adam Quinn Jaffe
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
new zealand journal of mathematics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1179-4984
pISSN - 1171-6096
DOI - 10.53733/147
Subject(s) - markov chain , mathematics , limit (mathematics) , pure mathematics , examples of markov chains , space (punctuation) , discrete mathematics , computer science , combinatorics , markov model , variable order markov model , mathematical analysis , statistics , operating system
We introduce the space of virtual Markov chains (VMCs) as a projective limit of the spaces of all finite state space Markov chains (MCs), in the same way that the space of virtual permutations is the projective limit of the spaces of all permutations of finite sets.We introduce the notions of virtual initial distribution (VID) and a virtual transition matrix (VTM), and we show that the law of any VMC is uniquely characterized by a pair of a VID and VTM which have to satisfy a certain compatibility condition.Lastly, we study various properties of compact convex sets associated to the theory of VMCs, including that the Birkhoff-von Neumann theorem fails in the virtual setting.