On the Vere–Jones classification and existence of maximal measures for countable topological Markov chains

Sylvie Ruette

Vol. 209 (2003), No. 2, 365–380

DOI: 10.2140/pjm.2003.209.365

Abstract

We consider topological Markov chains (also called Markov shifts) on countable graphs. We show that a transient graph can be extended to a recurrent graph of equal entropy which is either positive recurrent of null recurrent, and we give an example of each type. We extend the notion of local entropy to topological Markov chains and prove that a transitive Markov chain admits a measure of maximal entropy (or maximal measure) whenever its local entropy is less than its (global) entropy.

Milestones

Received: 26 April 2001

Revised: 20 June 2002

Published: 1 April 2003