Related papers: Mixing time bounds via bottleneck sequences

It is often possible to speed up the mixing of a Markov chain $\{ X_{t} \}_{t \in \mathbb{N}}$ on a state space $\Omega$ by \textit{lifting}, that is, running a more efficient Markov chain $\{ \hat{X}_{t} \}_{t \in \mathbb{N}}$ on a larger…

We consider stochastic optimization problems where data is drawn from a Markov chain. Existing methods for this setting crucially rely on knowing the mixing time of the chain, which in real-world applications is usually unknown. We propose…

The motivation of this work is to extend the techniques of higher order random walks on simplicial complexes to analyze mixing times of Markov chains for combinatorial problems. Our main result is a sharp upper bound on the second…

This paper introduces a concept of approximate spectral gap to analyze the mixing time of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms for which the usual spectral gap is degenerate or almost degenerate. We use the idea to analyze a class of…

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 study the worst-case mixing time of the global Kawasaki dynamics for the fixed-magnetization Ising model on the class of graphs of maximum degree $\Delta$. Proving a conjecture of Carlson, Davies, Kolla, and Perkins, we show that below…

This study introduces a novel approach for learning mixtures of Markov chains, a critical process applicable to various fields, including healthcare and the analysis of web users. Existing research has identified a clear divide in…

We prove an optimal $\Omega(n^{-1})$ lower bound on the spectral gap of Glauber dynamics for anti-ferromagnetic two-spin systems with $n$ vertices in the tree uniqueness regime. This spectral gap holds for all, including unbounded, maximum…

Markov chains in random environments (MCREs) have recently attracted renewed interest, as these processes naturally arise in many applications, such as econometrics and machine learning. Although specific asymptotic results, such as the law…

Random walks on expanders play a crucial role in Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms, derandomization, graph theory, and distributed computing. A desirable property is that they are rapidly mixing, which is equivalent to having a spectral…

The switch chain is a well-studied Markov chain which can be used to sample approximately uniformly from the set $\Omega(\boldsymbol{d})$ of all graphs with a given degree sequence $\boldsymbol{d}$. Polynomial mixing time (rapid mixing) has…

In this paper, we develop some matrix Poisson's equations satisfied by the mean and variance of the mixing time in an irreducible positive-recurrent discrete-time Markov chain with infinitely-many levels, and provide a computational…

This paper studies the augmented truncation of discrete-time block-monotone Markov chains under geometric drift conditions. We first present a bound for the total variation distance between the stationary distributions of an original Markov…

We prove an apparently novel concentration of measure result for Markov tree processes. The bound we derive reduces to the known bounds for Markov processes when the tree is a chain, thus strictly generalizing the known Markov process…

Over the past decades, a fascinating computational phase transition has been identified in sampling from Gibbs distributions. Though, the computational complexity at the critical point remains poorly understood, as previous algorithmic and…

Let $(X_t)_{t = 0 }^{\infty}$ be an irreducible reversible discrete time Markov chain on a finite state space $\Omega $. Denote its transition matrix by $P$. To avoid periodicity issues (and thus ensuring convergence to equilibrium) one…

We present an improved coupling technique for analyzing the mixing time of Markov chains. Using our technique, we simplify and extend previous results for sampling colorings and independent sets. Our approach uses properties of the…

We consider Metropolis Glauber dynamics for sampling proper $q$-colourings of the $n$-vertex complete $b$-ary tree when $3\leq q\leq b/2\ln(b)$. We give both upper and lower bounds on the mixing time. For fixed $q$ and $b$, our upper bound…

The theory of rapid mixing random walks plays a fundamental role in the study of modern randomised algorithms. Usually, the mixing time is measured with respect to the worst initial position. It is well known that the presence of…

Let $P$ be a bistochastic matrix of size $n$, and let $\Pi$ be a permutation matrix of size $n$. In this paper, we are interested in the mixing time of the Markov chain whose transition matrix is given by $Q=P\Pi$. In other words, the chain…