Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ii Paper 3 27K a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The queue length is a birth-death process with birth rate in state and death rate . Its reversible weights satisfyFor , the factor makes their sum finite for every . For , the tail is geometric with ratio , so a stationary distribution exists exactly when .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ib Paper 2 18H a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The chain is an irreducible birth-death process. The detailed balance equations areso . Normalization gives the stationary distributionAn irreducible countable-state Markov chain that possesses a stationary probability distribution is positive recurrent. Hence is positive recurrent.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 2 18H d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
False. Again use two states, but now takeThe support condition holds. Under , the first return time to state one is identically one, so . Under , the chain is irreducible with stationary distribution . The mean recurrence time formula givesThus enlarging transition support does not imply a smaller mean return time.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 3 8H a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 216 2 a Solution 2026-09-28
A Markov kernel with stationary distribution is geometrically ergodic if there are and a finite function such thatfor every and almost every starting point , where is total variation distance.
A measurable set is a small set with minorisation constant if some integer and some probability measure satisfyfor every and every measurable .
A standard drift-minorisation condition is that the chain be irreducible and aperiodic, and that there exist a measurable , a small set , constants and such thatThese conditions imply geometric ergodicity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 216 3 c Solution 2026-09-28
By the stationary distribution property, and have the same marginal distribution . Expanding the square givesThis is the probabilistic representation of the Dirichlet form of a Markov chain.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 356 1 d ii Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
Reaction 4 creates , reaction 5 removes one and one , and reaction 6 creates ; reaction 7 leaves unchanged. The exact first-moment equations are thereforeAt the assumed unique stationary distribution, both left-hand sides vanish. Eliminating the common mixed moment givesNo moment closure or independence assumption is involved.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 ib Paper 4 7H b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
On the closed class, the transition matrix isIts stationary distribution is . The class is irreducible and aperiodic because of its self-loops, while the other class is transient and enters it almost surely. Hence
Positive recurrent Markov chain 2026-10-06
An irreducible Markov chain is positive recurrent when its mean return times are finite. For a nonexplosive Markov chain on a countable state space, this is equivalent to the existence of a stationary distribution on its irreducible class. For continuous time, a return cycle includes departure and return, rather than counting immediate residence as a return.
For a loss network with feasible occupancies , its stationary distribution is proportional to . It is the law of independent Poisson random variables conditioned on the resource constraints. With exponential holding times, detailed balance for a continuous-time Markov chain proves the formula directly.
Random adjacent transposition shuffle 2026-10-06
On the symmetric group , this Markov chain chooses uniformly from the identity and the adjacent transpositions, and multiplies on the right. Its stationary distribution is the uniform distribution on a finite set, because the generators are self-inverse. A fixed label's position is a lumped Markov chain on a path graph with off-diagonal transition probabilities to existing neighbours.
Random transposition shuffle 2026-10-06
Choose two positions independently and uniformly from and swap them. This Markov chain on the symmetric group holds with probability and assigns probability to each unordered transposition. Its stationary distribution is uniform, and its ordinary spectral gap is for . The latter follows from the Aldous spectral gap theorem: the single-label continuous-time Markov chain has rate between every pair of positions, whose mean-zero eigenvalues are all .
Reversible density-ratio propagation Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
For a reversible Markov chain with stationary distribution and , detailed balance givesTo prove this, integrate either side against a bounded test function and exchange the two endpoints using detailed balance. If , the output probability density function is . A reverse simulation can therefore estimate this density ratio without evaluating a transition probability density function.
Reversible four-cycle flow model Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
The proportionally fair allocation on a four-cycle produces a reversible Markov chain with stationary distribution proportional to . This is normalizable exactly when every resource's offered load is strictly below capacity, equivalently .
Separation distance 2026-09-24
For a finite Markov chain with stationary distribution , the separation distance from an initial state isIf is a strong stationary time, then , and total variation distance is at most separation distance.
For route offered loads , the balance function of a flow-level network gives the stationary distributionThe negative binomial series sums over , and two geometric sums give under the stability conditions for a two-resource linear flow network.
Strong stationary time Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
A randomized stopping time is a strong stationary time for a Markov chain with stationary distribution when has distribution and is independent of . Equivalently,