Coarse graining of master equations with fast and slow states.

We propose a general method for simplifying master equations by eliminating from the description rapidly evolving states. The physical recipe we impose is the suppression of these states and a renormalization of the rates of all the surviving states. In some cases, this decimation procedure can be analytically carried out and is consistent with other analytical approaches, such as in the problem of the random walk in a double well potential. We discuss the application of our method to nontrivial examples: diffusion in a lattice with defects and a model of an enzymatic reaction outside the steady state regime.