Related papers: Block coupling and rapidly mixing k-heights
Upper bounds are derived on the total variation distance between the invariant distributions of two stochastic matrices differing on a subset W of rows. Such bounds depend on three parameters: the mixing time and the minimal expected…
We consider state-aggregation schemes for Markov chains from an information-theoretic perspective. Specifically, we consider aggregating the states of a Markov chain such that the mutual information of the aggregated states separated by T…
Finding all maximal $k$-plexes on networks is a fundamental research problem in graph analysis due to many important applications, such as community detection, biological graph analysis, and so on. A $k$-plex is a subgraph in which every…
Social networks have a small number of large hubs, and a large number of small dense communities. We propose a generative model that captures both hub and dense structures. Based on recent results about graphons on line graphs, our model is…
Let $X$ be a finite set and let $G$ be a finite group acting on $X$. The group action splits $X$ into disjoint orbits. The Burnside process is a Markov chain on $X$ which has a uniform stationary distribution when the chain is lumped to…
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 present a graph model for a background independent, relational approach to spacetime emergence. The general idea and the graph main features, detailed in [1], are discussed. This is a combinatorial (dynamical) metric graph, colored on…
The paper presents efficient approaches for evaluating convergence rate in total variation for finite and general linear Markov chains. The motivation for studying convergence rate in this metric is its usefulness in various limit theorems.…
In this paper, we study a biased version of the nearest-neighbor transposition Markov chain on the set of permutations where neighboring elements $i$ and $j$ are placed in order $(i,j)$ with probability $p_{i,j}$. Our goal is to identify…
We consider a random graph in which vertices can have one of two possible colours. Each vertex switches its colour at a rate that is proportional to the number of vertices of the other colour to which it is connected by an edge. Each edge…
A $k$-defective clique of an undirected graph $G$ is a subset of its vertices that induces a nearly complete graph with a maximum of $k$ missing edges. The maximum $k$-defective clique problem, which asks for the largest $k$-defective…
The hardcore model is a fundamental probabilistic model extensively studied in statistical physics, probability theory, and computer science. For graphs of maximum degree $\Delta$, a well-known computational phase transition occurs at the…
Graded posets frequently arise throughout combinatorics, where it is natural to try to count the number of elements of a fixed rank. These counting problems are often $\#\textbf{P}$-complete, so we consider approximation algorithms for…
Finding the maximum number of maximal independent sets in an $n$-vertex graph $G$, $i(G)$, from a restricted class is an extensively studied problem. Let $kK_2$ denote the matching of size $k$, that is a graph with $2k$ vertices and $k$…
Many natural Markov chains fail to mix to their stationary distribution in polynomially many steps. Often, this slow mixing is inevitable since it is computationally intractable to sample from their stationary measure. Nevertheless, Markov…
The mixing behaviour of random walks on lattice points of polytopes using Markov bases is examined. It is shown that under a dilation of the underlying polytope, these random walks do not mix rapidly when a fixed Markov basis is used. We…
This paper presents a simple algorithm to check whether reachability probabilities in parametric Markov chains are monotonic in (some of) the parameters. The idea is to construct - only using the graph structure of the Markov chain and…
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:…
Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) is a state-of-the-art Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling algorithm for drawing samples from smooth probability densities over continuous spaces. We study the variant most widely used in practice, Metropolized…
We study the mixing time of a systematic scan Markov chain for sampling from the uniform distribution on proper 7-colourings of a finite rectangular sub-grid of the infinite square lattice, the grid. A systematic scan Markov chain cycles…