A sufficient condition for the quasipotential to be the rate function of the invariant measure of countable-state mean-field interacting particle systems

Abstract

This paper considers the family of invariant measures of Markovian mean-field interacting particle systems on a countably infinite state space and studies its large deviation asymptotics. The Freidlin-Wentzell quasipotential is the usual candidate rate function for the sequence of invariant measures indexed by the number of particles. The paper provides two counterexamples where the quasipotential is not the rate function. The quasipotential arises from finite horizon considerations. However there are certain barriers that cannot be surmounted easily in any finite time horizon, but these barriers can be crossed in the stationary regime. Consequently, the quasipotential is infinite at some points where the rate function is finite. After highlighting this phenomenon, the paper studies some sufficient conditions on a class of interacting particle systems under which one can continue to assert that the Freidlin-Wentzell quasipotential is indeed the rate function.

Anisothermal chemical reactions: Onsager–Machlup and macroscopic fluctuation theory

“…Actually, the most common notion of quasipotential as used in[FW12] is slightly different. There are known cases where that notion does not coincide with the large-deviation rate of the invariant measure, even if the macroscopic dynamics has a unique basin of attraction[YS21].…”