Related papers: Mixing Time for Square Tilings

We study the mixing time of random walks on small-world networks modelled as follows: starting with the 2-dimensional periodic grid, each pair of vertices $\{u,v\}$ with distance $d>1$ is added as a "long-range" edge with probability…

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…

By proving a local limit theorem for higher-order transitions, we determine the time required for necklace chains to be close to stationarity. Because necklace chains, built by arranging identical smaller chains around a directed cycle, are…

We consider Markovian models on graphs with local dynamics. We show that, under suitable conditions, such Markov chains exhibit both rapid convergence to equilibrium and strong concentration of measure in the stationary distribution. We…

In [4], we examined the use of coupling to obtain bounds on the mixing time of statistics on Markov chains. In the present paper, we consider the same general problem, but using strong stationary times rather than coupling. We discuss…

We introduce a Markov chain for sampling from the uniform distribution on a Riemannian manifold $\mathcal{M}$, which we call the $\textit{geodesic walk}$. We prove that the mixing time of this walk on any manifold with positive sectional…

We study the problem of generating a sample from the stationary distribution of a Markov chain, given a method to simulate the chain. We give an approximation algorithm for the case of a random walk on a regular graph with n vertices that…

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…

We study the convergence rate to stationarity for a class of exchangeable partition-valued Markov chains called cut-and-paste chains. The law governing the transitions of a cut-and-paste chain are determined by products of i.i.d. stochastic…

The switch chain is a well-known Markov chain for sampling directed graphs with a given degree sequence. While not ergodic in general, we show that it is ergodic for regular degree sequences. We then prove that the switch chain is rapidly…

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…

We consider sampling and enumeration problems for Markov equivalence classes. We create and analyze a Markov chain for uniform random sampling on the DAGs inside a Markov equivalence class. Though the worst case is exponentially slow…

We show that the classical Pollard rho algorithm for discrete logarithms produces a collision in expected time O(sqrt(n)(log n)^3). This is the first nontrivial rigorous estimate for the collision probability for the unaltered Pollard rho…

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…

The abelian sandpile model defines a Markov chain whose states are integer-valued functions on the vertices of a simple connected graph $G$. By viewing this chain as a (nonreversible) random walk on an abelian group, we give a formula for…

We study the mixing time of the $(n,k)$ Bernoulli--Laplace urn model, where $k\in\{0,1,\ldots,n\}$. Consider two urns, each containing $n$ balls, so that when combined they have precisely $n$ red balls and $n$ white balls. At each step of…

We study distributions of meeting times for finite symmetric Markov chains. For Markov kernels defined on large state spaces which satisfy certain weak inhomogeneity in return probabilities of points up to large numbers of steps, we obtain…

A plane tiling consisting of congruent copies of a shape is isohedral provided that for any pair of copies, there exists a symmetry of the tiling mapping one copy to the other. We give a $O(n\log^2{n})$-time algorithm for deciding if a…

The Metropolis-Hastings method is often used to construct a Markov chain with a given $\pi$ as its stationary distribution. The method works even if $\pi$ is known only up to an intractable constant of proportionality. Polynomial time…

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…