Related papers: Mixing time bounds via bottleneck sequences

Lifted Markov chains are Markov chains on graphs with added local "memory" and can be used to mix towards a target distribution faster than their memoryless counterparts. Upper and lower bounds on the achievable performance have been…

We show that a new probabilistic technique, recently introduced by the first author, yields the sharpest bounds obtained to date on mixing times of Markov chains in terms of isoperimetric properties of the state space (also known as…

The problem of efficiently sampling from a set of(undirected) graphs with a given degree sequence has many applications. One approach to this problem uses a simple Markov chain, which we call the switch chain, to perform the sampling. The…

In this paper we consider the field of local times of a discrete-time Markov chain on a general state space, and obtain uniform (in time) upper bounds on the total variation distance between this field and the one of a sequence of $n$…

We establish conditions on sequences of graphs which ensure that the mixing times of the random walks on the graphs in the sequence converge. The main assumption is that the graphs, associated measures and heat kernels converge in a…

The convergence rate of a Markov chain to its stationary distribution is typically assessed using the concept of total variation mixing time. However, this worst-case measure often yields pessimistic estimates and is challenging to infer…

We prove that Broder's Markov chain for approximate sampling near-perfect and perfect matchings is not rapidly mixing for Hamiltonian, regular, threshold and planar bipartite graphs, filling a gap in the literature. In the second part we…

We develop Markov chain mixing time estimates for a class of Markov chains with restricted transitions. We assume transitions may occur along a cycle of $n$ nodes and on $n^\gamma$ additional edges, where $\gamma < 1$. We find that the…

The problem of efficiently sampling from a set of (undirected, or directed) graphs with a given degree sequence has many applications. One approach to this problem uses a simple Markov chain, which we call the switch chain, to perform the…

Consider the interchange process on a connected graph $G=(V,E)$ on $n$ vertices. I.e.\ shuffle a deck of cards by first placing one card at each vertex of $G$ in a fixed order and then at each tick of the clock, picking an edge uniformly at…

We study the mixing time of the single-site update Markov chain, known as the Glauber dynamics, for generating a random independent set of a tree. Our focus is obtaining optimal convergence results for arbitrary trees. We consider the more…

We investigate the mixing properties of a finite Markov chain in random environment defined as a mixture of a deterministic chain and a chain whose state space has been permuted uniformly at random. This work is the counterpart of a…

Markov chains are convenient means of generating realizations of networks with a given (joint or otherwise) degree distribution, since they simply require a procedure for rewiring edges. The major challenge is to find the right number of…

We analyze the mixing time of a natural local Markov chain (the Glauber dynamics) on configurations of the solid-on-solid model of statistical physics. This model has been proposed, among other things, as an idealization of the behavior of…

We study the stochastic Ising model on finite graphs with n vertices and bounded degree and analyze the effect of boundary conditions on the mixing time. We show that for all low enough temperatures, the spectral gap of the dynamics with…

We construct a family of growing finite bounded degree rooted graphs, $G_n$, in which the mixing time for simple random walk, starting at the root, is order $\log |G_n|$. Yet after a quasi - isometry, the ratio of $|G_n|$ over the mixing…

A sequence of Markov chains is said to exhibit (total variation) cutoff if the convergence to stationarity in total variation distance is abrupt. We consider reversible lazy chains. We prove a necessary and sufficient condition for the…

A 1-2 model configuration is a subset of edges of a hexagonal lattice satisfying the constraint that each vertex is incident to 1 or 2 edges. We introduce Markov chains to sample the 1-2 model configurations on 2D hexagonal lattice and…

We study a simple Markov chain, the switch chain, on the set of all perfect matchings in a bipartite graph. This Markov chain was proposed by Diaconis, Graham and Holmes as a possible approach to a sampling problem arising in Statistics. We…

We prove an optimal mixing time bound on the single-site update Markov chain known as the Glauber dynamics or Gibbs sampling in a variety of settings. Our work presents an improved version of the spectral independence approach of Anari et…