A note on adiabatic theorem for Markov chains (Q844868)

The adiabatic theorem asserts that a physical system remains in its instantaneous eigenstate if a given perturbation on it is slowly enough and if there is a gap between the eigenvalue and the rest of the Hamiltonian's spectrum. The author states and proves the corresponding theorem for Markov chains using the machinery of mixing times and relaxation times of Markov chains. The result is extended to the case of continuous time Markov chains with bounded generators.