Related papers: Improved bounds for the mixing time of the random-…
The best known lower and upper bounds on the mixing time for the random-to-random insertions shuffle are $(1/2-o(1))n\log n$ and $(2+o(1))n\log n$. A long standing open problem is to prove that the mixing time exhibits a cutoff. In…
In this paper, we use the eigenvalues of the random to random card shuffle to prove a sharp upper bound for the total variation mixing time. Combined with the lower bound due to Subag, we prove that this walk exhibits cutoff at $\frac{3}{4}…
In the cyclic-to-random shuffle, we are given n cards arranged in a circle. At step k, we exchange the k'th card along the circle with a uniformly chosen random card. The problem of determining the mixing time of the cyclic-to-random…
E. Thorp introduced the following card shuffling model. Suppose the number of cards $n$ is even. Cut the deck into two equal piles. Drop the first card from the left pile or from the right pile according to the outcome of a fair coin flip.…
We extend a technique for lower-bounding the mixing time of card-shuffling Markov chains, and use it to bound the mixing time of the Rudvalis Markov chain, as well as two variants considered by Diaconis and Saloff-Coste. We show that in…
We consider a Markov chain on invertible $n\times n$ matrices with entries in $\mathbb{Z}_2$ which moves by picking an ordered pair of distinct rows and add the first one to the other, modulo $2$. We establish a logarithmic Sobolev…
We prove a theorem that reduces bounding the mixing time of a card shuffle to verifying a condition that involves only pairs of cards, then we use it to obtain improved bounds for two previously studied models. E. Thorp introduced the…
We establish the first polynomial upper bound for the mixing time of random edge flips on rooted quadrangulations: we show that the spectral gap of the edge flip Markov chain on quadrangulations with $n$ faces admits, up to constants, an…
We show that for any semi-random transposition shuffle on $n$ cards, the mixing time of any given $k$ cards is at most $n\log k$, provided $k=o((n/\log n)^{1/2})$. In the case of the top-to-random transposition shuffle we show that there is…
A deck of $n$ cards is shuffled by repeatedly moving the top card to one of the bottom $k_n$ positions uniformly at random. We give upper and lower bounds on the total variation mixing time for this shuffle as $k_n$ ranges from a constant…
We provide new upper bounds for mixing times of general finite Markov chains. We use these bounds to show that the total variation mixing time is robust under rough isometry for bounded degree graphs that are roughly isometric to trees.
A deck of $n$ cards are shuffled by repeatedly taking off the top card, flipping it with probability $1/2$, and inserting it back into the deck at a random position. This process can be considered as a Markov chain on the group $B_n$ of…
The overhand shuffle is one of the ``real'' card shuffling methods in the sense that some people actually use it to mix a deck of cards. A mathematical model was constructed and analyzed by Pemantle [J. Theoret. Probab. 2 (1989) 37--49] who…
We provide a general framework for computing upper bounds on mixing times of finite Markov chains when its minimal ideal is left zero. Our analysis is based on combining results by Brown and Diaconis with our previous work on stationary…
We consider a natural local dynamic on the set of all rooted planar maps with $n$ edges that is in some sense analogous to "edge flip" Markov chains, which have been considered before on a variety of combinatorial structures (triangulations…
We prove that any Markov chain that performs local, reversible updates on randomly chosen vertices of a bounded-degree graph necessarily has mixing time at least $\Omega(n\log n)$, where $n$ is the number of vertices. Our bound applies to…
Define $(X_n)$ on $\mathbf{Z}/q\mathbf{Z}$ by $X_{n+1} = 2X_n + b_n$, where the steps $b_n$ are chosen independently at random from $-1, 0, +1$. The mixing time of this random walk is known to be at most $1.02 \log_2 q$ for almost all odd…
Mixing of finite time-homogeneous Markov chains is well understood nowadays, with a rich set of techniques to estimate their mixing time. In this paper, we study the mixing time of random walks in dynamic random environments. To that end,…
We provide a coupling proof that the transposition shuffle on a deck of n cards is mixing of rate Cn(log{n}) with a moderate constant, C. This rate was determined by Diaconis and Shahshahani, but the question of a natural probabilistic…
Determining the mixing time of Kac's random walk on the sphere $\mathrm{S}^{n-1}$ is a long-standing open problem. We show that the total variation mixing time of Kac's walk on $\mathrm{S}^{n-1}$ is between $\frac{1}{2} \, n \log(n)$ and…