Strong Feller Processes Research Articles

Irreducible decomposition for Markov processes

We prove an irreducible decomposition for Markov processes associated with quasi-regular symmetric Dirichlet forms or local semi-Dirichlet forms under the absolute continuity condition of transition probability with respect to the underlying measure. We do not assume the conservativeness nor the existence of invariant measures for the processes. As applications, we establish a concrete expression for Chacon–Ornstein type ratio ergodic theorem for such Markov processes and show a compactness of semi-groups under the Green-tightness of measures in the framework of symmetric resolvent strong Feller processes without irreducibility.

Skorokhod decomposition for a reflected -strong Feller diffusion with singular drift

We construct Skorokhod decompositions for diffusions with singular drift and reflecting boundary behaviour on open subsets of with -smooth boundary except for a sufficiently small set. This decomposition holds almost surely under the path measures of the process for every starting point from an explicitly known set. This set is characterized by the boundary smoothness and the singularities of the drift term. We apply modern methods of Dirichlet form theory and -strong Feller processes. These tools have been approved as useful for the pointwise analysis of stochastic processes with singular drift and various boundary conditions. Furthermore, we apply Sobolev space theorems and elliptic regularity results to prove regularity properties of potentials related to surface measures. These are important ingredients for the pointwise construction of the boundary local time of the diffusions under consideration. As an application we construct stochastic dynamics for particle systems with hydrodynamic and pair interaction. Our approach allows highly singular potentials like Lennard–Jones potentials and position-dependent diffusion coefficients and thus the treatment of physically reasonable models.

A new approach to the $L^p$-theory of $-\Delta + b \cdot \nabla$, and its applications to Feller processes with general drifts

We develop a detailed regularity theory of $-\Delta +b\cdot\nabla$ in $L^p(\mathbb R^d)$, for a wide class of vector fields. The $L^p$-theory allows us to construct associated strong Feller process in $C_\infty(\mathbb R^d)$. Our starting object is an operator-valued function, which, we prove, coincides with the resolvent of an operator realization of $-\Delta + b\cdot \nabla$, the generator of a holomorphic $C_0$-semigroup on $L^p(\mathbb R^d)$. Then the very form of the operator-valued function yields crucial information about smoothness of the domain of the generator.

Conservativeness criteria for generalized Dirichlet forms

We develop sufficient analytic conditions for conservativeness of non-sectorial perturbations of symmetric Dirichlet forms which can be represented through a carré du champ on a locally compact separable metric space. These form an important subclass of generalized Dirichlet forms which were introduced in [21]. In case there exists an associated strong Feller process, the analytic conditions imply conservativeness, i.e. non-explosion of the associated process in the classical probabilistic sense. As an application of our general results on locally compact separable metric state spaces, we consider a generalized Dirichlet form given on a closed or open subset of Rd which is given as a divergence free first order perturbation of a symmetric energy form. Then using volume growth conditions of the carré du champ and the non-sectorial first order part, we derive an explicit criterion for conservativeness. We present several concrete examples which relate our results to previous ones obtained by different authors. In particular, we show that conservativeness can hold for a large variance if the anti-symmetric part of the drift is strong enough to compensate it. This work continues our previous work on transience and recurrence of generalized Dirichlet forms.

Construction of ${\mathcal L}^{{p}}$ -strong Feller Processes via Dirichlet Forms and Applications to Elliptic Diffusions

We provide a general construction scheme for $\mathcal L^p$-strong Feller processes on locally compact separable metric spaces. Starting from a regular Dirichlet form and specified regularity assumptions, we construct an associated semigroup and resolvents of kernels having the $\mathcal L^p$-strong Feller property. They allow us to construct a process which solves the corresponding martingale problem for all starting points from a known set, namely the set where the regularity assumptions hold. We apply this result to construct elliptic diffusions having locally Lipschitz matrix coefficients and singular drifts on general open sets with absorption at the boundary. In this application elliptic regularity results imply the desired regularity assumptions.

On the coupling property of Lévy processes

We give necessary and sufficient conditions guaranteeing that the coupling for L\'evy processes (with non-degenerate jump part) is successful. Our method relies on explicit formulae for the transition semigroup of a compound Poisson process and earlier results by Mineka and Lindvall-Rogers on couplings of random walks. In particular, we obtain that a L\'{e}vy process admits a successful coupling, if it is a strong Feller process or if the L\'evy (jump) measure has an absolutely continuous component.

Almost sure stability of linear stochastic differential equations with jumps

Under the nondegenerate condition as in the diffusion case, see [14, 21, 6], the linear stochastic jump-diffusion process projected on the unit sphere is a strong Feller process and has a unique invariant measure which is also ergodic using the relation between the transition probabilities of jump-diffusions and the corresponding diffusions due to [22]. The unique deterministic Lyapunov exponent can be represented by the Furstenberg-Khas'minskii formula as an integral over the sphere or the projective space with respect to the ergodic invariant measure so that the almost sure asymptotic stability of linear stochastic systems with jumps depends on its sign. The critical case of zero Lyapunov exponent is discussed and a large deviations result for asymptotically stable systems is further investigated. Several examples are treated for illustration.

Diffusion processes and heat kernels on metric spaces

We present a general method to construct $m$-symmetric diffusion processes $(X_t, \mathbf{P}_x)$ on any given locally compact metric space $(X, d)$ equipped with a Radon measure $m$. These processes are associated with local regular Dirichlet forms which are obtained as $\Gamma$-limits of approximating nonlocal Dirichlet forms. This general method works without any restrictions on $(X, d, m)$ and yields processes which are well defined for quasi every starting point. The second main topic of this paper is to formulate and exploit the so-called Measure Contraction Property. This is a condition on the original data $(X, d, m)$ which can be regarded as a generalization of curvature bounds on the metric space $(X, d)$. It is a bound for distortions of the measure $m$ under contractions of the state space $X$ along suitable geodesics or quasi geodesics w.r.t. the metric $d$. In the case of Riemannian manifolds, this condition is always satisfied. Several other examples will be discussed, including uniformly elliptic operators, operators with weights, certain subelliptic operators, manifolds with boundaries or corners and glueing together of manifolds. The Measure Contraction Property implies upper and lower Gaussian estimates for the heat kernel and a Harnack inequality for the associated harmonic functions. Therefore, the above-mentioned diffusion processes are strong Feller processes and are well defined for every starting point.

Killed diffusions and their conditioning

Let X=(Xt)t≧0be a diffusion determined by an elliptic differential operator L in R n(n≧1). For any bounded C 1,1 domain D, we define the conditional killed diffusion X ϕon D by the semigroup: $$T_t^\phi f(x) = \phi _0 (x)^{ - 1} E_x \left[ {f(X_t )\phi _0 (X_t ),\tau _D > } \right.\left. t \right]e^{\lambda _0 t} (t > 0)$$ where λ0 and φ0 are the principle eigenvalue and eigenfunction respectively of L on D with the Dirichlet boundary condition. In this paper, we prove that X ϕis a strong Feller process on D and that {T φ } is strongly continuous on C(D). For any T>0 we consider the conditioned process X Ti.e. the process X in D conditioned on {τ D >T}, and prove that X Tconverges weakly to X ϕas T→∞ without any additional hypotheses.

Potential operator of a recurrent strong Feller process in the strict sense and boundary value problem

Potential operator of a recurrent strong Feller process in the strict sense and boundary value problem