Every bounded harmonic function on a graph is constant if the connected locally finite graph is recurrent. Along its random walk on a graph, the harmonic values form a bounded martingale and converge almost surely. Recurrence visits each vertex infinitely often, making every vertex value a subsequential limit of the same convergent sequence. Thus every value agrees.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ib Paper 1 19H Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
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Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 201 1 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let be the natural filtration of the random walk on a graph. For a bounded harmonic function on a graph, the transition rule and the Markov property giveThus is a bounded martingale. The Martingale convergence theorem gives a finite almost sure limit .
On the probability-one recurrence event, every vertex is visited along a sequence . Along that sequence , while convergence of the whole sequence forces . Therefore every pair of vertices has the same value. This is the bounded harmonic function theorem on a recurrent graph:Recurrence makes each vertex value a subsequential limit of the same convergent martingale. A connected locally finite graph is countable, since it is the union of its finite distance balls, so these almost sure assertions can also be combined by a countable intersection. The one-vertex case is immediate.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 226 1 b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The displayed identity is false with the printed non-strict inequality. For example, take and let . The event says that the walk returns to at most once, so its left side is , whereas its right side is .
The standard and evidently intended last-exit decomposition for a transient random walk has . Decompose that corrected event according to and . The Strong Markov property at time givesReversibility of the random walk on a graph gives the path-reversal identitySince is the equilibrium measure of a finite set, summing first over and then over yields