One-dimensional Markov random fields, Markov chains and topological Markov fields

Abstract

A topological Markov chain is the support of an ordinary first-order Markov chain. We develop the concept of topological Markov field (TMF), which is the support of a Markov random field. Using this, we show that any one-dimensional (discrete-time, finite-alphabet) stationary Markov random field must be a stationary Markov chain, and we give a version of this result for continuous-time processes. We also give a general finite procedure for deciding if a given shift space is a TMF.