60J27 Continuous-time Markov processes on discrete state spaces
The chemical master equation is a fundamental equation in chemical kinetics. It underlies the classical reaction-rate equations and takes stochastic effects into account. In this paper we give a simple argument showing that the solutions of a large class of chemical master equations are bounded in weighted $\ell_1$-spaces and possess high-order moments. This class includes all equations in which no reactions between two or more already present molecules and further external reactants occur that add mass to the system. As an illustration for the implications of this kind of regularity, we analyze the effect of truncating the state space. This leads to an error analysis for the finite state projections of the chemical master equation, an approximation that forms the basis of many numerical methods.
We study the approximation of Wasserstein gradient structures
by their finite-dimensional analog. We show that simple
finite-volume discretizations of the linear Fokker-Planck
equation exhibit the recently established entropic gradient-flow
structure for reversible Markov chains. Then we reprove the
convergence of the discrete scheme in the limit of vanishing
mesh size using only the involved gradient-flow structures.
In particular, we make no use of the linearity of the equations
nor of the fact that the Fokker-Planck equation is of second order.
The chemical master equation is a fundamental equation in chemical kinetics. It is an adequate substitute for the classical reaction-rate equations whenever stochastic effects become relevant. In the present paper we give a simple argument showing that the solutions of a large class of chemical master equations, including all those in which elementary reactions between two and more molecules do not generate a larger number of molecules than existed before,
are bounded in weighted $\ell_1$-spaces. As an illustration for the implications of this kind of regularity we analyze the effect of truncating the state space. This leads to an error analysis of the finite state projection of the chemical master equation, an approximation that underlies many numerical methods.