Related papers: Mixing times and moving targets

Consider the class of (functions of) strictly stationary Markov chains in which (i) the second moments are finite and (ii) absolute regularity (beta-mixing) is satisfied with exponential mixing rate. For (functions of) Markov chains in that…

We consider a general framework for multi-type interacting particle systems on graphs, where particles move one at a time by random walk steps, different types may have different speeds, and may interact, possibly randomly, when they meet.…

We show bounds on total variation and $L^{\infty}$ mixing times, spectral gap and magnitudes of the complex valued eigenvalues of a general (non-reversible non-lazy) Markov chain with a minor expansion property. This leads to the first…

We present a Markov chain on the $n$-dimensional hypercube $\{0,1\}^n$ which satisfies $t_{{\rm mix}}(\epsilon) = n[1 + o(1)]$. This Markov chain alternates between random and deterministic moves and we prove that the chain has cut-off with…

In optimal stopping problems, a Markov structure guarantees Markovian optimal stopping times (first exit times). Surprisingly, there is no analogous result for Markovian stopping games once randomization is required. This paper addresses…

We present a closed-form, computable expression for the expected number of times any transition event occurs during the transient phase of a reducible Markov chain. Examples of events include time to absorption, number of visits to a state,…

In this work we make use of generalized inverses associated with quantum channels acting on finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces, so that one may calculate the mean hitting time for a particle to reach a chosen goal subspace. The questions…

The cutoff phenomenon describes a case where a Markov chain exhibits a sharp transition in its convergence to stationarity. In 1996, Diaconis surveyed this phenomenon, and asked how one could recognize its occurrence in families of finite…

We consider an additive functional driven by a time-inhomogeneous Markov chain with a finite state space. Our study focuses on the joint distribution of the two-sided exit time and the state of the driving Markov chain at the time of exit,…

General characterizations of ergodic Markov chains have been developed in considerable detail. In this paper, we study the transience for discrete-time Markov chains on general state spaces, including the geometric transience and algebraic…

For a given absorbing Markov chain $X^*$ on a finite state space, a chain $X$ is a sharp antidual of $X^*$ if the fastest strong stationary time of $X$ is equal, in distribution, to the absorption time of $X^*$. In this paper we show a…

Random metastability occurs when an externally forced or noisy system possesses more than one state of apparent equilibrium. This work investigates fluctuations in a class of random dynamical systems, arising from randomly perturbing a…

In this paper, we propose a new Markov chain which generalizes random-to-random shuffling on permutations to random-to-random shuffling on linear extensions of a finite poset of size $n$. We conjecture that the second largest eigenvalue of…

We define the hitting time for a Markov decision process (MDP). We do not use the hitting time of the Markov process induced by the MDP because the induced chain may not have a stationary distribution. Even it has a stationary distribution,…

A class of examples is constructed to show that for strictly stationary Markov chains that are reversible, the simultaneous mixing rates for the $\rho$-mixing and strong mixing ($\alpha$-mixing) conditions can be fairly arbitrary, within…

We present preliminary results of the investigation of the properties of the Markov random walk in the energy space generated by the Wang-Landau probability. We build transition matrix in the energy space (TMES) using the exact density of…

We prove that the mixing time of the No-U-Turn Sampler (NUTS), when initialized in the concentration region of the canonical Gaussian measure, scales as $d^{1/4}$, up to logarithmic factors, where $d$ is the dimension. This scaling is…

Sampling permutations from S_n is a fundamental problem from probability theory. The nearest neighbor transposition chain \cal{M}}_{nn} is known to converge in time \Theta(n^3 \log n) in the uniform case and time \Theta(n^2) in the constant…

The preparation of the stationary distribution of irreducible, time-reversible Markov chains is a fundamental building block in many heuristic approaches to algorithmically hard problems. It has been conjectured that quantum analogs of…

We consider moments of the return times (or first hitting times) in a discrete time discrete space Markov chain. It is classical that the finiteness of the first moment of a return time of one state implies the finiteness of the first…