Related papers: Biased random-to-top shuffling

We study Markov chains for $\alpha$-orientations of plane graphs, these are orientations where the outdegree of each vertex is prescribed by the value of a given function $\alpha$. The set of $\alpha$-orientations of a plane graph has a…

We analyze the general biased adjacent transposition shuffle process, which is a well-studied Markov chain on the symmetric group $S_n$. In each step, an adjacent pair of elements $i$ and $j$ are chosen, and then $i$ is placed ahead of $j$…

Sampling permutations from S_n is a fundamental problem from probability theory. The nearest neighbor transposition chain \cal{M}}_{nn} is known to converge in time \Theta(n^3 \log n) in the uniform case and time \Theta(n^2) in the constant…

The Curveball algorithm is a variation on well-known switch-based Markov chain approaches for uniformly sampling binary matrices with fixed row and column sums. Instead of a switch, the Curveball algorithm performs a so-called binomial…

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…

This paper is about the following question: How many riffle shuffles mix a deck of card for games such as blackjack and bridge? An object that comes up in answering this question is the descent polynomial associated with pairs of decks,…

We study the cutoff phenomenon for generalized riffle shuffles where, at each step, the deck of cards is cut into a random number of packs of multinomial sizes which are then riffled together.

Relying on the optimal guessing strategy recently found for a no-feedback card guessing game with $k$-time riffle shuffles, we derive an exact, closed-form formula for the expected number of correct guesses and higher moments for a $1$-time…

In a recent breakthrough, Teyssier [Tey20] introduced a new method for approximating the distance from equilibrium of a random walk on a group. He used it to study the limit profile for the random transpositions card shuffle. His techniques…

Let a deck of n cards be shuffled by successively exchanging the cards in positions 1, 2, ..., n with cards in randomly chosen positions. We show that for n equal to 18 or greater, the identity permutation is the most likely. We prove a…

We consider a random walk on the hyperoctahedral group $B_n$ generated by the signed permutations of the forms $(i,n)$ and $(-i,n)$ for $1\leq i\leq n$. We call this the flip-transpose top with random shuffle on $B_n$. We find the spectrum…

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…

In this expository article, we highlight the direct connection between card shuffling and the functions known as $P$-partitions that come from algebraic combinatorics. While many (but not all) of the results we discuss are known, we give a…

We consider new types of perfect shuffles wherein a deck is split in half, one half of the deck is "reversed", and then the cards are interlaced. Flip shuffles are when the reversal comes from flipping the half over so that we also need to…

Move-to-front rule is a heuristic updating a list of n items according to requests. Items are required with unknown probabilities (or popularities). The induced Markov chain is known to be ergodic. One main problem is the study of the…

This work introduces the minimax Laplace transform method, a modification of the cumulant-based matrix Laplace transform method developed in "User-friendly tail bounds for sums of random matrices" (arXiv:1004.4389v6) that yields both upper…

We prove new upper and lower bounds for sample complexity of finding an $\epsilon$-optimal policy of an infinite-horizon average-reward Markov decision process (MDP) given access to a generative model. When the mixing time of the…

In this paper, we investigate the properties of a random walk on the alternating group $A_n$ generated by $3$-cycles of the form $(i,n-1,n)$ and $(i,n,n-1)$. We call this the transpose top-$2$ with random shuffle. We find the spectrum of…

Many seemingly disparate Markov chains are unified when viewed as random walks on the set of chambers of a hyperplane arrangement. These include the Tsetlin library of theoretical computer science and various shuffling schemes. If only…

We consider the biased card shuffling and the Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process (ASEP) on the segment. We obtain the asymptotic of their mixing times: our result show that these two continuous-time Markov chains display cutoff. Our…