Long-term behavior of the master equation on countable system space and approximation method of the (stationary) solutions via finite subsystems in the thermodynamic limit

Abstract: The Master equation - also called the differential Chapman-Kolmogorov equation - is a linear differential equation, which describes the probability evolution in a discrete system. While this is well understood, if the underlying state space is finite, the mathematics required for the treatment of infinite dimensional systems is way more complicated and advanced. In this paper we provide sufficient criteria for the rates, which guarantee that the infinite dimensional master equation is both well defined and that it can be approximated by finite subsystems in the thermodynamic limit. Moreover, we lay out the required assumptions for the time limit for an infinite dimensional system to exist, and when it can be interchanged with the limit of a large system. We give sufficient criteria, when these two limits commute and demonstrate on various examples, when they do not.