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This paper deals with a complete bipartite matching problem with the objective of finding an optimal matching that maximizes a certain generic predefined utility function on the set of all matchings. After proving the NP-hardness of the…
We derive and analyze new diffusion approximations of stationary distributions of Markov chains that are based on second- and higher-order terms in the expansion of the Markov chain generator. Our approximations achieve a higher degree of…
The basic question in perturbation analysis of Markov chains is: how do small changes in the transition kernels of Markov chains translate to chains in their stationary distributions? Many papers on the subject have shown, roughly, that the…
We consider the problem of approximating the stationary distribution of an ergodic Markov chain given a set of sampled transitions. Classical simulation-based approaches assume access to the underlying process so that trajectories of…
We propose a novel distributed inference algorithm for continuous graphical models, by extending Stein variational gradient descent (SVGD) to leverage the Markov dependency structure of the distribution of interest. Our approach combines…
Markov chains are a convenient means of generating realizations of networks, since they require little more than a procedure for rewiring edges. If a rewiring procedure exists for generating new graphs with specified statistical properties,…
This paper offers a personal review of some things we've learned about rates of convergence of Markov chains to their stationary distributions. The main topic is ways of speeding up diffusive behavior. It also points to open problems and…
We study the properties of a subclass of stochastic processes called discrete time nonlinear Markov chains with an aggregator, which naturally appear in various topics such as strategic queueing systems, inventory dynamics, opinion…
Fast distributed algorithms that output a feasible solution for constraint satisfaction problems, such as maximal independent sets, have been heavily studied. There has been much less research on distributed sampling problems, where one…
Markov chains are the de facto finite-state model for stochastic dynamical systems, and Markov decision processes (MDPs) extend Markov chains by incorporating non-deterministic behaviors. Given an MDP and rewards on states, a classical…
The possibility of flexibly assigning spectrum resources with channels of different sizes greatly improves the spectral efficiency of optical networks, but can also lead to unwanted spectrum fragmentation.We study this problem in a scenario…
We explore a simple mathematical model of network computation, based on Markov chains. Similar models apply to a broad range of computational phenomena, arising in networks of computers, as well as in genetic, and neural nets, in social…
We study the Markov chain on $\mathbf{F}_p$ obtained by applying a function $f$ and adding $\pm\gamma$ with equal probability. When $f$ is a linear function, this is the well-studied Chung--Diaconis--Graham process. We consider two cases:…
Introduced by Bean and O'Reilly (2014), a stochastic fluid-fluid process is a Markov processes $\{X_t, Y_t, \varphi_t\}_{t \geq 0}$, where the first fluid $X_t$ is driven by the Markov chain $\varphi_t$, and the second fluid $Y_t$ is driven…
This article describes an accurate procedure for computing the mean first passage times of a finite irreducible Markov chain and a Markov renewal process. The method is a refinement to the Kohlas, Zeit fur Oper Res, 30,197-207, (1986)…
A block Markov chain is a Markov chain whose state space can be partitioned into a finite number of clusters such that the transition probabilities only depend on the clusters. Block Markov chains thus serve as a model for Markov chains…
In this paper, we present a novel iterative Monte Carlo method for approximating the stationary probability of a single state of a positive recurrent Markov chain. We utilize the characterization that the stationary probability of a state…
We formulate some simple conditions under which a Markov chain may be approximated by the solution to a differential equation, with quantifiable error probabilities. The role of a choice of coordinate functions for the Markov chain is…
This paper gives a method for computing distributions associated with patterns in the state sequence of a hidden Markov model, conditional on observing all or part of the observation sequence. Probabilities are computed for very general…
At high levels, the asymptotic distribution of a stationary, regularly varying Markov chain is conveniently given by its tail process. The latter takes the form of a geometric random walk, the increment distribution depending on the sign of…