Stochastic recursions on directed random graphs

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the behavior of stochastic recursive processes on large directed random graphs, showing convergence to a process on a limiting Galton-Watson tree and characterizing the long-term distribution.

Contribution

It introduces a framework for understanding stochastic recursions on directed graphs via local weak convergence to Galton-Watson trees and characterizes their asymptotic distribution.

Findings

Processes can be coupled to a limiting tree process for fixed steps.

Conditions are provided for convergence to a fixed-point distribution.

Framework applies to randomness solely from graph realization.

Abstract

For a directed graph $G(V_n, E_n)$ on the vertices $V_n = \{1,2, \dots, n\}$, we study the distribution of a Markov chain $\{ {\bf R}^{(k)}: k \geq 0\}$ on $\mathbb{R}^n$ such that the $i$th component of ${\bf R}^{(k)}$, denoted $R_i^{(k)}$, corresponds to the value of the process on vertex $i$ at time $k$. We focus on processes $\{ {\bf R}^{(k)}: k \geq 0\}$ where the value of $R_i^{(k+1)}$ depends only on the values $\{ R_j^{(k)}: j \to i\}$ of its inbound neighbors, and possibly on vertex attributes. We then show that, provided $G(V_n, E_n)$ converges in the local weak sense to a marked Galton-Watson process, the dynamics of the process for a uniformly chosen vertex in $V_n$ can be coupled, for any fixed $k$, to a process $\{ \mathcal{R}_\emptyset^{(r)}: 0 \leq r \leq k\}$ constructed on the limiting marked Galton-Watson tree. Moreover, we derive sufficient conditions under which $\mathcal{R}^{(k)}_\emptyset$ converges, as $k \to \infty$, to a random variable $\mathcal{R}^*$ that can be characterized in terms of the attracting endogenous solution to a branching distributional fixed-point equation. Our framework can also be applied to processes $\{ {\bf R}^{(k)}: k \geq 0\}$ whose only source of randomness comes from the realization of the graph $G(V_n, E_n)$.