Poincaré's Inequality on Sliding-Window Occupation Count Kernels and the Optimal Normalized Spectral-Gap Constant

Abstract

Let $P$ be an irreducible reversible Markov kernel on an $m$-state space $\Omega$, and denote its right spectral gap by $\Gap(P) =1-λ_2(P)$. For a stationary trajectory, let $K_t$ be the occupation-count vector of the length-$n$ window beginning at time $t$. The stationary pair $(K_0,K_1)$ defines a reversible projected count kernel ${\tilde{P}}_n$. For each fixed $m\ge 2$, define \[ c_m^\star= \inf_{\substack{|Ω|=m,\ P\ \mathrm{irreducible\ and\ reversible} n\ge2}} \frac{n\Gap(\widetilde P_n)}{\Gap(P)}. \] We prove \[ \frac1{1080m}\le c_m^\star\le q_{m-2}, \qquad q_0=\frac14,\quad q_{r+1}=q_r(1-q_r). \] We also show $q_{m-2}=(m+\log m+O(1){)}^{-1}$, which implies that $c_m^{\star }=\Theta (m^{-1})$. Thus, the reciprocal optimal comparison coefficient $C_m^{\mathrm{opt}}=(c_m^{\star }{)}^{-1}$ is of the order $m$. In the two-state case, we determine the exact values $c_2^{\star }=1/4$ and $C_2^{\mathrm{opt}}=4$. %the exact constants for $m\ge 3$ remain open. The lower bound also holds for $n=1$ and is uniform in $P$, including sparse and periodic kernels. The proof combines short-window decorrelation with an averaged anchor-excursion decomposition, a Green-kernel hitting estimate, and a stopped Carleson--Hardy inequality. A nested rare-state construction produces finite $m$-state witnesses whose normalized Rayleigh quotients approach $q_{m-2}$ through an ordered sequence of limits. For every fixed finite irreducible reversible aperiodic kernel on at least two states, $\Gap(\widetilde P_n)=Θ_P(n^{-1})$.

arXiv comment59 pages