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For discrete-time Markov chains run at time step $1/n$, suppose the displayed conditional moments converge uniformly on compact sets to continuous coefficients, the local conditional large-jump second moments vanish, initial laws converge, and compact containment holds on each finite horizon. If the limiting diffusion martingale problem is well-posed and nonexplosive, the chain laws converge to its solution. Vanishing jumps give a continuous limit; linearly interpolated paths converge in the uniform path topology and step paths in Skorokhod J1 topology. Local moment bounds give tightness after exit-time localization. Taylor expansion identifies the limiting test-function martingales, and uniqueness of the martingale problem makes every subsequential limit the same. The diffusion approximation of a birth-death process is an important example.

In the birth-death master equation, The upward jump has rate $\lambda$ and the downward jump rate $\beta x$, so the first two jump moments per unit time are $A(x)=\lambda -\beta x$ and $B(x)=\lambda +\beta x$. The second-order Kramers-Moyal expansion gives the diffusion approximation of a birth-death processFor the associated Fokker-Planck equation, integrating by parts with vanishing moment boundary terms gives $d⟨f⟩/dt=⟨A{f}^{\prime }+\frac{1}{2}B{f}^{\prime \prime }⟩$. Taking $f=x,x^2$ yieldsFor example, if $m_0=⟨x(0)⟩$, then $m(t)=\lambda /\beta +(m_0-\lambda /\beta )e^{-\beta t}$, while the variance satisfies $v^{\prime }=-2\beta v+\lambda +\beta m$. The two boxed moment equations also follow exactly from the discrete Markov jump-process generator, since quadratic functions have no higher jump terms. A reflecting diffusion confined to $x\ge 0$ can have extra boundary contributions; the formal approximation near extinction is not an exact replacement for the discrete process.

The diffusion approximation of a birth-death process uses the first two jump moments. For these unit upward and downward jumps they giveThe factor $1/2$ in $D$ is required because the equation is written with $+{\partial }_x^2(DP)$, rather than $\frac{1}{2}{\partial }_x^2(BP)$.

Assuming the boundary terms vanish, integration by parts givesConsequentlywhich is precisely the discrete first-moment equation in part (b).