{"title":"Cutoff for non-negatively curved Markov chains","authors":"J. Salez","doi":"10.4171/jems/1348","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Discovered in the context of card shuffling by Aldous, Diaconis and Shahshahani, the cutoff phenomenon has since then been established in a variety of Markov chains. However, proving cutoff remains a delicate affair, which requires a detailed knowledge of the chain. Identifying the general mechanisms underlying this phase transition -- without having to pinpoint its precise location -- remains one of the most fundamental open problems in the area of mixing times. In the present paper, we make a step in this direction by establishing cutoff for Markov chains with non-negative curvature, under a suitably refined product condition. The result applies, in particular, to random walks on abelian Cayley expanders satisfying a mild degree condition, hence in particular to \\emph{almost all} abelian Cayley graphs. Our proof relies on a quantitative \\emph{entropic concentration principle}, which we believe to lie behind all cutoff phenomena.","PeriodicalId":50003,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the European Mathematical Society","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2021-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"20","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of the European Mathematical Society","FirstCategoryId":"100","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4171/jems/1348","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"数学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MATHEMATICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 20
Abstract
Discovered in the context of card shuffling by Aldous, Diaconis and Shahshahani, the cutoff phenomenon has since then been established in a variety of Markov chains. However, proving cutoff remains a delicate affair, which requires a detailed knowledge of the chain. Identifying the general mechanisms underlying this phase transition -- without having to pinpoint its precise location -- remains one of the most fundamental open problems in the area of mixing times. In the present paper, we make a step in this direction by establishing cutoff for Markov chains with non-negative curvature, under a suitably refined product condition. The result applies, in particular, to random walks on abelian Cayley expanders satisfying a mild degree condition, hence in particular to \emph{almost all} abelian Cayley graphs. Our proof relies on a quantitative \emph{entropic concentration principle}, which we believe to lie behind all cutoff phenomena.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of the European Mathematical Society (JEMS) is the official journal of the EMS.
The Society, founded in 1990, works at promoting joint scientific efforts between the many different structures that characterize European mathematics. JEMS will publish research articles in all active areas of pure and applied mathematics. These will be selected by a distinguished, international board of editors for their outstanding quality and interest, according to the highest international standards.
Occasionally, substantial survey papers on topics of exceptional interest will also be published. Starting in 1999, the Journal was published by Springer-Verlag until the end of 2003. Since 2004 it is published by the EMS Publishing House. The first Editor-in-Chief of the Journal was J. Jost, succeeded by H. Brezis in 2004.
The Journal of the European Mathematical Society is covered in:
Mathematical Reviews (MR), Current Mathematical Publications (CMP), MathSciNet, Zentralblatt für Mathematik, Zentralblatt MATH Database, Science Citation Index (SCI), Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), CompuMath Citation Index (CMCI), Current Contents/Physical, Chemical & Earth Sciences (CC/PC&ES), ISI Alerting Services, Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Web of Science.