Qifan Mao | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Wasserstein geometry of nonnegative measures on finite Markov chains I: Gradient flow

We investigate a Benamou--Brenier type transportation metric for nonnegative measures on a finite reversible Markov chain, which endows the space of measures with a Riemannian structure. Using this geometric framework, we identify a generalized heat equation with source as the gradient flow of the discrete entropy. Moreover, by means of a local Łojasiewicz inequality, we prove exponential convergence of the flow to a unique equilibrium. Our results clarify the role of the Benamou--Brenier formulation in discrete optimal transport for nonnegative measures and provide a coherent geometric interpretation of generalized diffusion equations with source terms.

math.AP↗

arXiv2026

Wasserstein geometry of nonnegative measures on finite Markov chains II: Geodesic and duality formulae

In this paper, we investigate the geodesic structure and the associated Kantorovich-type duality for a Benamou-Brenier-type transportation metric defined on the space of nonnegative measures over a finite reversible Markov chain. The metric is introduced through a dynamic formulation that combines transport and source costs along solutions of a nonconservative continuity equation, where mass variation is constrained to occur along a fixed strictly positive reference direction. We show that geodesics associated with this metric exhibit a non-locality property: almost every time, they are supported on the whole state space, independently of the choice of endpoints. Moreover, along optimal curves, the source term displays a characteristic temporal profile, with mass creation occurring at early times and subsequent decay as the curve approaches the target measure. As an application of this property, we compare our metric with the shift-transport distance and prove that the latter is always bounded above by our metric. Finally, we establish a Kantorovich-type duality formula in terms of Hamilton-Jacobi subsolutions, which provides a characterization of the metric and highlights the role of the momentum associated with geodesic curves.

math.AP↗