On logarithmic Sobolev inequalities for continuous time random walks on graphs

We establish modified logarithmic Sobolev inequalities for the path distributions of some continuous time random walks on graphs, including the simple examples of the discrete cube and the lattice ZZ ^d . Our approach is based on the Malliavin calculus on Poisson spaces developed by J. Picard and stochastic calculus. The inequalities we prove are well adapted to describe the tail behaviour of various functionals such as the graph distance in this setting. Received: 6 April 1998 / Revised version: 15 March 1999 / Published on line: 14 February 2000