Nonparametric Estimation for Semi-Markov Processes Based on its Hazard Rate Functions

Abstract

The problem of estimating the Markov renewal matrix and the semi-Markov transition matrix based on a history of a finite semi-Markov process censored at time T (fixed) is addressed for the first time. Their asymptotic properties are studied. We begin by the definition of the transition rate of this process and propose a maximum likelihood estimator for the hazard rate functions and then we show that this estimator is uniformly strongly consistent and converges weakly to a normal random variable. We construct a new estimator for an absolute continous semi-Markov kernel and give detailed derivation of uniform strong consistency and weak convergence of this estimator as the censored time tends to infinity.