Let Θ=Rp, let μ>0 be a probability density function on Θ and suppose we are given a further auxiliary conditional probability density function q(⋅∣t)>0,t∈Θ, on Θ from which we can generate random draws. Consider a sequence of random variables {ϑm:m∈N} generated as follows:
ϑm+1={sm,ϑm, with probability ρ(ϑm,sm) with probability 1−ρ(ϑm,sm)
where ρ(t,s)=min{μ(t)μ(s)q(s∣t)q(t∣s),1}.
(i) Show that the Markov chain (ϑm) has invariant measure μ, that is, show that for all (measurable) subsets B⊂Θ and all m∈N we have
∫ΘPr(ϑm+1∈B∣ϑm=t)μ(t)dt=∫Bμ(θ)dθ
(ii) Now suppose that μ is the posterior probability density function arising in a statistical model {f(⋅,θ):θ∈Θ} with observations x and a N(0,Ip) prior distribution on θ. Derive a family {q(⋅∣t):t∈Θ} such that in the above algorithm the acceptance probability ρ(t,s) is a function of the likelihood ratio f(x,s)/f(x,t), and for which the probability density function q(⋅∣t) has covariance matrix 2δIp for all t∈Θ.