James R. Norris 2026-10-24
Mathematician working in probability theory and stochastic calculus; author of Markov Chains by James R. Norris. Author's Cambridge page.
James R. Norris at Oberwolfach in 2007. Photograph credited to Renate Schmid; Wikimedia Commons and the Oberwolfach Photo Collection.
Photograph by Renate Schmid. Verified file and source credit, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0 Germany. No changes. Source.For each adjacent pair, the detailed balance equations follows directly:For nonadjacent distinct states both fluxes vanish, and diagonal fluxes agree trivially. Since , this is a genuine stationary distribution, rather than merely an invariant measure of infinite mass.
Every upward and downward transition probability between neighbouring states is positive for . Any two states can therefore be joined by a finite path of positive probability: the Markov chain is irreducible. Moreover,State zero has period one; Markov chain irreducibility makes every state aperiodic. Finally, the standard countable-state recurrence theorem states that an irreducible Markov chain admitting a stationary distribution of total mass one is positive recurrent, with that stationary distribution unique. The countable-state Markov chain convergence theorem then states that Markov chain irreducibility, positive recurrence and aperiodicity imply for all states . The hypotheses just verified hold on the infinite state space , not merely on a numerical truncation.[ref]
Markov Chains by James R. Norris. Sections 1.7–1.8, invariant distributions and convergence to equilibrium
Consequently, the unique stationary distribution and the limiting distribution are both , from every initial state. The countable-state Markov chain ergodic theorem also gives almost surely whenever .[ref]
