Quantum vs classical Markov chains; Exactly solvable examples

Ryu Sasaki

Published 2022-12-21Version 1

A coinless quantisation procedure of general reversible Markov chains on graphs is presented. A quantum Hamiltonian H is obtained by a similarity transformation of the fundamental transition probability matrix K in terms of the square root of the reversible distribution. The evolution of the classical and quantum Markov chains are described by the solutions of the eigenvalue problem of the quantum Hamiltonian H. About twenty plus exactly solvable Markov chains based on the hypergeometric orthogonal polynomials of Askey scheme, derived by Odake-Sasaki, would provide a good window for scrutinising the quantum/classical contrast of Markov chains. Among them five explicit examples, related to the Krawtchouk, Hahn, q-Hahn, Charlier and Meixner, are demonstrated to illustrate the actual calculations.