Paper 2, Section II, 28K28 K

Applied Probability | Part II, 2021

Let XX be an irreducible, non-explosive, continuous-time Markov process on the state space Z\mathbb{Z} with generator Q=(qx,y)x,yZQ=\left(q_{x, y}\right)_{x, y \in \mathbb{Z}}.

(a) Define its jump chain YY and prove that it is a discrete-time Markov chain.

(b) Define what it means for XX to be recurrent and prove that XX is recurrent if and only if its jump chain YY is recurrent. Prove also that this is the case if the transition semigroup (px,y(t))\left(p_{x, y}(t)\right) satisfies

0p0,0(t)dt=\int_{0}^{\infty} p_{0,0}(t) d t=\infty

(c) Show that XX is recurrent for at least one of the following generators:

qx,y=(1+x)2exy2(xy),qx,y=(1+xy)2ex2(xy).\begin{array}{cc} q_{x, y}=(1+|x|)^{-2} e^{-|x-y|^{2}} & (x \neq y), \\ q_{x, y}=(1+|x-y|)^{-2} e^{-|x|^{2}} & (x \neq y) . \end{array}

[Hint: You may use that the semigroup associated with a QQ-matrix on Z\mathbb{Z} such that qx,yq_{x, y} depends only on xyx-y (and has sufficient decay) can be written as

px,y(t)=12πππetλ(k)eik(xy)dkp_{x, y}(t)=\frac{1}{2 \pi} \int_{-\pi}^{\pi} e^{-t \lambda(k)} e^{i k(x-y)} d k

where λ(k)=yq0,y(1eiky)\lambda(k)=\sum_{y} q_{0, y}\left(1-e^{i k y}\right). You may also find the bound 1cosxx2/21-\cos x \leqslant x^{2} / 2 useful. ]]

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