Relative entropy and mixing properties of infinite dimensional diffusions

Summary. Let η be a diffusion process taking values on the infinite dimensional space T ^Z , where T is the circle, and with components satisfying the equations dη _i =σ _i (η) dW _i +b _i (η) dt for some coefficients σ _i and b _i , i∈Z. Suppose we have an initial distribution μ and a sequence of times t _n →∞ such that lim _{n →∞}μS _tn =ν exists, where S _t is the semi-group of the process. We prove that if σ _i and b _i are bounded, of finite range, have uniformly bounded second order partial derivatives, and inf _{i ,η}σ _i (η)>0, then ν is invariant. Received: 12 September 1996 / In revised form: 10 November 1997