Random walks on $\mathbb{Z}$ with metastable Gaussian distribution caused by linear drift with application to the contact process on the complete graph

Abstract: We study random walks on $\mathbb{Z}$ which have a linear (or almost linear) drift towards 0 in a range around 0. This drift leads to a metastable Gaussian distribution centered at zero. We give specific, fast growing, time windows where we can explicitely bound the distance of the distribution of the walk to an appropriate Gaussian. In this way we give a solid theoretical foundation to the notion of metastability. We show that the supercritical contact process on the complete graph has a drift towards its equilibrium point which is locally linear and that our results for random walks apply. This leads to the conclusion that the infected fraction of the population in metastability (when properly scaled) converges in distribution to a Gaussian, uniformly for all times in a fast growing interval.