Abstract

Markov chain sampling has received considerable attention in the recent literature, in particular in the context of Bayesian computation and maximum likelihood estimation. This paper discusses the use of Markov chain splitting, originally developed as a tool for the theoretical analysis of general state space Markov chains, to introduce regeneration times into Markov chain samplers. This allows the use of regenerative methods for analyzing the output of these samplers, and can also provide a useful diagnostic of the performance of the samplers. The general approach is applied to several different samplers and is illustrated in a number of examples. 1 Introduction In Markov chain Monte Carlo, a distribution ß is examined by obtaining sample paths from a Markov chain constructed to have equilibrium distribution ß. This approach was introduced by Metropolis et al. (1953) and has recently received considerable attention as a method for examining posterior distributions in Bayesian infer...

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