English

Ranking graphs through Markov chains and hitting times

Probability 2020-12-01 v2

Abstract

In the present paper we show that for any given digraph G=([n],E)\mathbb{G} =([n], \vec{E}), i.e. an oriented graph without self-loops and 2-cycles, one can construct a 1-dependent Markov chain and nn identically distributed hitting times T1,,TnT_1, \ldots , T_n on this chain such that the probability of the event Ti>TjT_i > T_j , for any i,j=1,ni, j = 1, \ldots n, is larger than 12\frac{1}{2} if and only if (i,j)E(i,j)\in \vec{E}. This result is related to various paradoxes in probability theory, concerning in particular non-transitive dice.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1908.11296,
  title  = {Ranking graphs through Markov chains and hitting times},
  author = {Emilio De Santis},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1908.11296},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

14 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-23T11:00:05.549Z