For jumps of rates , the forward operator acts on a probability mass function by
It is adjoint to the Markov jump-process generator .
Moment equation 2026-10-05
For a Markov jump-process generator , differentiating an integrable observable gives , when the generator identity and interchange are justified. Choosing powers gives equations for moments. These need not form a closed finite system.
Moment hierarchy 2026-09-28
A moment hierarchy is the coupled family of equations obtained by applying a Markov jump-process generator to powers of the state. Nonlinear reaction propensity functions make a moment of one order depend on higher-order moments, so the hierarchy generally does not close after finitely many equations.
In the birth-death master equation, The upward jump has rate and the downward jump rate , so the first two jump moments per unit time are and . The second-order Kramers-Moyal expansion gives the diffusion approximation of a birth-death process
For the associated Fokker-Planck equation, integrating by parts with vanishing moment boundary terms gives . Taking yields
For example, if , then , while the variance satisfies . 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 can have extra boundary contributions; the formal approximation near extinction is not an exact replacement for the discrete process.
For ,
so part (b) ensures nonexplosion. The Markov jump-process generator acts on the identity function as
Consequently satisfies
Solving this linear ordinary differential equation gives the mean of the linear birth process with immigration:
Differentiate and substitute the three master equations. Reindexing every gain term by its source state gives one contribution per possible transition:
This is the generator identity for a continuous-time Markov chain applied to the test function .
Applying the reduced Markov jump-process generator to gives the exact moment equation
Under the stated moment closure this becomes the same expression evaluated at . Set and let to obtain
Its positive stable equilibrium is
With population , the transition diagram has the two outgoing arrows
Thus this is a batch-birth linear-death process. If and for , probability enters state from by a birth and from by a death. Hence the master equation is
The Markov jump-process generator is
For , this gives . Therefore the expected value satisfies
so
For ,
Writing and using the generator identity gives
The variance consequently obeys
If , substitution of the formula for yields
All transient terms vanish, and the moments of a batch-birth linear-death process therefore give
A simple birth process with parameter starting from one individual is the Yule process: when its population is , it waits an exponential time of rate and then moves to .
For , the Markov jump-process generator satisfies
Therefore obeys
It follows, as recorded by the mean population of a Yule process, that
For a function on the copy-number state space, define the shift operator
With the propensities from part (a), the forward operator of a Markov jump process is
Equivalently, the chemical master equation has the gain-minus-loss form
where terms outside the state space vanish.
The adjoint Markov jump-process generator acts on observables:
Indeed, shifting the summation index in the gain terms gives .
For any observable , the Markov jump-process generator identity gives
Set and . With , reaction 2 changes by and reaction 3 changes it by . Therefore
and, using and ,
The equation for the second moment contains the third, whose equation contains the fourth, and so on. This is an infinite moment hierarchy.
Reaction 1 eventually leaves the odd initial copy number at . Put
The stationary first-moment equation gives
The stationary second-moment equation then gives
Under the prescribed central-moment closure,
Substitution yields the requested polynomial equation
This cubic comes from the closure approximation; it is not an exact equation for the stationary mean.
A jump process with event types , increments , and rates can be represented as , with independent unit-rate Poisson processes. This represents the Markov jump-process generator through time-changed counts.