DECOMPOSITION OF A SEMI-MARKOV PROCESS UNDER A MARKOVIAN RULE

Consider a semi-Markov process {X(t), t>0} with transition epochs T₀ T₁, T₂…. Suppose that at each one of the epochs {T_n} one of R possible events, E₁, E₂,…, E_R can happen, where the occurrences of successive events form a Markov chain. for a fixed r, let the times the event E_r happens be U_o U₁, U₂,…. In this paper we are interested in the process {Y(t), t>0)} where Y(t)=X(U_k) if and only if U_k≤tk+1. It will be shown that {Y(t)} is a semi-Markov process, and its properties with respect to those of {X(t)} will be examined.