Monotonicity of random walks’ states on finite grids

Abstract

In this paper two ways to order the nodes of a graph with respect to an arbitrary node are considered, both connected to random walks on the graph. The first one is the order according to probabilities of states of a random walk of fixed length started in that arbitrary node. The walks considered here are lazy walks – instead of making a step they are allowed to stay in the same node. A class of graphs, where such order the corresponds to the weak order by geodesic distances, was found. Square and toric n-dimensional grids are shown to be instances of this class. The second way of ordering is resistance distance to a fixed node. For another class of graphs, a pair of vertices with maximal resistance distance between them is established. Grids are again shown to be an example of graphs belonging to this class.