We consider the behavior of the Gaussian concentration bound (GCB) under stochastic time evolution. More precisely, we consider a Markovian diffusion process on ℝ^d and start the process from an initial distribution µ that satisfies GCB. We then study the question whether GCB is preserved under the time-evolution, and if yes, how the constant behaves as a function of time. In particular, if for the constant we obtain a uniform bound, then we can also conclude properties of the stationary measure(s) of the diffusion process. This question, as well as the methodology developed in the paper allows to prove Gaussian concentration via semigroup interpolation method, for measures which are not available in explicit form. We provide examples of conservation of GCB, loss of GCB in finite time, and loss of GCB at infinity. We also consider diffusions “coming down from infinity” for which we show that, from any starting measure, at positive times, GCB holds. Finally we consider a simple class of non-Markovian diffusion processes with drift of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck type, and general bounded predictable variance.

We consider spin-flip dynamics of Ising lattice spin systems and study the time evolution of concentration inequalities. For “weakly interacting” dynamics we show that the Gaussian concentration bound is conserved in the course of time and it is satisfied by the unique stationary Gibbs measure. Next we show that, for a general class of translation-invariant spin-flip dynamics, it is impossible to evolve in finite time from a low-temperature Gibbs state towards a measure satisfying the Gaussian concentration bound. Finally, we consider the time evolution of the weaker uniform variance bound, and show that this bound is conserved under a general class of spin-flip dynamics.