This book is about discrete-time, time-homogeneous, Markov chains (Mes) and their ergodic behavior. To this end, most of the material is in fact about stable Mes, by which we mean Mes that admit an invariant probability measure. To state this more precisely and give an overview of the questions we shall be dealing with, we will first introduce some notation and terminology. Let (X,B) be a measurable space, and consider a X-valued Markov chain ~. = {~k' k = 0, 1, ... } with transition probability function (t.pJ.) P(x, B), i.e., P(x, B) := Prob (~k+1 E B I ~k = x) for each x E X, B E B, and k = 0,1, .... The Me ~. is said to be stable if there exists a probability measure (p.m.) /.l on B such that (*) VB EB. /.l(B) = Ix /.l(dx) P(x, B) If (*) holds then /.l is called an invariant p.m. for the Me ~. (or the t.p.f. P).

A long time ago I started writing a book about Markov chains, Brownian motion, and diffusion. I soon had two hundred pages of manuscript and my publisher was enthusiastic. Some years and several drafts later, I had a thousand pages of manuscript, and my publisher was less enthusiastic. So we made it a trilogy: Markov Chains Brownian Motion and Diffusion Approximating Countable Markov Chains familiarly - MC, B & D, and ACM. I wrote the first two books for beginning graduate students with some knowledge of probability; if you can follow Sections 10.4 to 10.9 of Markov Chains you're in. The first two books are quite independent of one another, and completely independent of the third. This last book is a monograph which explains one way to think about chains with instantaneous states. The results in it are supposed to be new, except where there are specific disclaim ers; it's written in the framework of Markov Chains. Most of the proofs in the trilogy are new, and I tried hard to make them explicit. The old ones were often elegant, but I seldom saw what made them go. With my own, I can sometimes show you why things work. And, as I will VB1 PREFACE argue in a minute, my demonstrations are easier technically. If I wrote them down well enough, you may come to agree.

Markov Chains and Stochastic Stability is part of the Communications and Control Engineering Series (CCES) edited by Professors B.W. Dickinson, E.D. Sontag, M. Thoma, A. Fettweis, J.L. Massey and J.W. Modestino. The area of Markov chain theory and application has matured over the past 20 years into something more accessible and complete. It is of increasing interest and importance. This publication deals with the action of Markov chains on general state spaces. It discusses the theories and the use to be gained, concentrating on the areas of engineering, operations research and control theory. Throughout, the theme of stochastic stability and the search for practical methods of verifying such stability, provide a new and powerful technique. This does not only affect applications but also the development of the theory itself. The impact of the theory on specific models is discussed in detail, in order to provide examples as well as to demonstrate the importance of these models. Markov Chains and Stochastic Stability can be used as a textbook on applied Markov chain theory, provided that one concentrates on the main aspects only. It is also of benefit to graduate students with a standard background in countable space stochastic models. Finally, the book can serve as a research resource and active tool for practitioners.

Meyn and Tweedie is back! The bible on Markov chains in general state spaces has been brought up to date to reflect developments in the field since 1996 - many of them sparked by publication of the first edition. The pursuit of more efficient simulation algorithms for complex Markovian models, or algorithms for computation of optimal policies for controlled Markov models, has opened new directions for research on Markov chains. As a result, new applications have emerged across a wide range of topics including optimisation, statistics, and economics. New commentary and an epilogue by Sean Meyn summarise recent developments and references have been fully updated. This second edition reflects the same discipline and style that marked out the original and helped it to become a classic: proofs are rigorous and concise, the range of applications is broad and knowledgeable, and key ideas are accessible to practitioners with limited mathematical background.

This book covers the classical theory of Markov chains on general state-spaces as well as many recent developments. The theoretical results are illustrated by simple examples, many of which are taken from Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. The book is self-contained, while all the results are carefully and concisely proven. Bibliographical notes are added at the end of each chapter to provide an overview of the literature. Part I lays the foundations of the theory of Markov chain on general states-space. Part II covers the basic theory of irreducible Markov chains on general states-space, relying heavily on regeneration techniques. These two parts can serve as a text on general state-space applied Markov chain theory. Although the choice of topics is quite different from what is usually covered, where most of the emphasis is put on countable state space, a graduate student should be able to read almost all these developments without any mathematical background deeper than that needed to study countable state space (very little measure theory is required). Part III covers advanced topics on the theory of irreducible Markov chains. The emphasis is on geometric and subgeometric convergence rates and also on computable bounds. Some results appeared for a first time in a book and others are original. Part IV are selected topics on Markov chains, covering mostly hot recent developments.

Markov chains are central to the understanding of random processes. This is not only because they pervade the applications of random processes, but also because one can calculate explicitly many quantities of interest. This textbook, aimed at advanced undergraduate or MSc students with some background in basic probability theory, focuses on Markov chains and quickly develops a coherent and rigorous theory whilst showing also how actually to apply it. Both discrete-time and continuous-time chains are studied. A distinguishing feature is an introduction to more advanced topics such as martingales and potentials in the established context of Markov chains. There are applications to simulation, economics, optimal control, genetics, queues and many other topics, and exercises and examples drawn both from theory and practice. It will therefore be an ideal text either for elementary courses on random processes or those that are more oriented towards applications.

Fundamental concepts of Markov chains; The classical approach to markov chains; The algebraic approach to Markov chains; Nonstationary Markov chains and the ergodic coeficient; Analysis of a markov chain on a computer; Continuous time Markov chains.