Related papers: A general lower bound for mixing of single-site dy…

We study distributed versions of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms for generating random $k$-colorings of an input graph with maximum degree $\Delta$. In the sequential setting, the Glauber dynamics is the simple MCMC algorithm…

The problem of sampling from the stationary distribution of a Markov chain finds widespread applications in a variety of fields. The time required for a Markov chain to converge to its stationary distribution is known as the classical…

There are distributed graph algorithms for finding maximal matchings and maximal independent sets in $O(\Delta + \log^* n)$ communication rounds; here $n$ is the number of nodes and $\Delta$ is the maximum degree. The lower bound by Linial…

For an integer $b \ge 1$, a $b$-matching (resp. $b$-edge cover) of a graph $G=(V,E)$ is a subset $S\subseteq E$ of edges such that every vertex is incident with at most (resp. at least) $b$ edges from $S$. We prove that for any $b \ge 1$…

In this paper we consider the problem of learning undirected graphical models from data generated according to the Glauber dynamics. The Glauber dynamics is a Markov chain that sequentially updates individual nodes (variables) in a…

We give a bound on the mixing time of a uniformly ergodic, reversible Markov chain in terms of the spectral radius of the transition operator. This bound has been established previously in finite state spaces, and is widely believed to hold…

A classical result of Koml\'os, S\'ark\"ozy and Szemer\'edi states that every $n$-vertex graph with minimum degree at least $(1/2+ o(1))n$ contains every $n$-vertex tree with maximum degree $O(n/\log{n})$ as a subgraph, and the bounds on…

We prove that the mixing time of the Glauber dynamics for random k-colorings of the complete tree with branching factor b undergoes a phase transition at $k=b(1+o_b(1))/\ln{b}$. Our main result shows nearly sharp bounds on the mixing time…

The spectral gap $\gamma$ of a finite, ergodic, and reversible Markov chain is an important parameter measuring the asymptotic rate of convergence. In applications, the transition matrix $P$ may be unknown, yet one sample of the chain up to…

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…

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…

A well-studied challenge that arises in the structure learning problem of causal directed acyclic graphs (DAG) is that using observational data, one can only learn the graph up to a "Markov equivalence class" (MEC). The remaining undirected…

We give a systematic development of the application of matrix norms to rapid mixing in spin systems. We show that rapid mixing of both random update Glauber dynamics and systematic scan Glauber dynamics occurs if any matrix norm of the…

A well-known conjecture in computer science and statistical physics is that Glauber dynamics on the set of $k$-colorings of a graph $G$ on $n$ vertices with maximum degree $\Delta$ is rapidly mixing for $k \geq \Delta +2$. In FOCS 1999,…

Here we study the problem of sampling random proper colorings of a bounded degree graph. Let $k$ be the number of colors and let $d$ be the maximum degree. In 1999, Vigoda showed that the Glauber dynamics is rapidly mixing for any $k >…

We present the first general bounds on the mixing time of the Markov chain associated to the logit dynamics for wide classes of strategic games. The logit dynamics with inverse noise beta describes the behavior of a complex system whose…

In this paper we consider the problem of sampling from the low-temperature exponential random graph model (ERGM). The usual approach is via Markov chain Monte Carlo, but Bhamidi et al. showed that any local Markov chain suffers from an…

We consider Glauber dynamics (starting from an extremal configuration) in a monotone spin system, and show that interjecting extra updates cannot increase the expected Hamming distance or the total variation distance to the stationary…

We show that the existence of a "good"' coupling w.r.t. Hamming distance for any local Markov chain on a discrete product space implies rapid mixing of the Glauber dynamics in a blackbox fashion. More specifically, we only require the…

We show that the Jerrum-Sinclair Markov chain on matchings mixes in time $\widetilde{O}(\Delta^2 m)$ on any graph with $n$ vertices, $m$ edges, and maximum degree $\Delta$, for any constant edge weight $\lambda>0$. For general graphs with…