Poisson limit theorem for countable Markov chains in Markovian environments

Abstract

A countable Markov chain in a Markovian environment is considered. A Poisson limit theorem for the chain recurring to small cylindrical sets is mainly achieved. In order to prove this theorem, the entropy function h is introduced and the Shannon-McMillan-Breiman theorem for the Markov chain in a Markovian environment is shown. It's well-known that a Markov process in a Markovian environment is generally not a standard Markov chain, so an example of Poisson approximation for a process which is not a Markov process is given. On the other hand, when the environmental process degenerates to a constant sequence, a Poisson limit theorem for countable Markov chains, which is the generalization of Pitskel's result for finite Markov chains is obtained.