Quadratic Perturbations of Markov Systems

Abstract

In this paper we study a quadratic dynamical system that is a perturbation of a system of Markov processes. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for such a perturbation to be stochastic, show the existence of fixed points, and present a few examples and possible applications. Finally, we derive explicit contraction conditions that guarantee uniqueness of the fixed point and geometric convergence to it from every initial state.

major revision, new co-author, added new section, 19 pages, all comments are welcome