Balance Equation - Detailed Balance

Detailed Balance

See also: Detailed balance

For a continuous time Markov chain (CTMC) with transition rate matrix Q, if can be found such that for every pair of states i and j

holds, then the global balance equations are satisfied and is the stationary distribution of the process. If such a solution can be found the resulting equations are usually much easier than directly solving the global balance equations.

A CTMC is reversible if and only if the detailed balance conditions are satisfied for every pair of states i and j.

A discrete time Markov chains with transition matrix P and equilibrium distribution is said to be in detailed balance if for all pairs i and j,

When a solution can be found, as in the case of a CTMC, the computation is usually much quicker than directly solving.

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