We provide a formal definition and study the basic properties of partially
ordered chains (POC). These systems were proposed to model textures in image
processing and to represent independence relations between random variables in
statistics (in the later case they are known as Bayesian networks). Our chains
are a generalization of probabilistic cellular automata (PCA) and their theory
has features intermediate between that of discrete-time processes and the
theory of statistical mechanical lattice fields. Its proper definition is based
on the notion of partially ordered specification (POS), in close analogy to the
theory of Gibbs measure. This paper contains two types of results. First, we
present the basic elements of the general theory of POCs: basic geometrical
issues, definition in terms of conditional probability kernels, extremal
decomposition, extremality and triviality, reconstruction starting from
single-site kernels, relations between POM and Gibbs fields. Second, we prove
three uniqueness criteria that correspond to the criteria known as bounded
uniformity, Dobrushin and disagreement percolation in the theory of Gibbs
measures.Comment: 54 pages, 11 figures, 6 simulations. Submited to Journal of Stat.
Phy