Speaker:
Perla Sousi
Title:
Mixing times are hitting times of large sets
Abstract:
We consider irreducible reversible discrete time Markov chains on a finite
state space. Mixing times and hitting times are fundamental parameters of
the chain. In this talk, we relate them by showing that the mixing time of
the lazy chain is equivalent to the maximum over initial states x and large
set A of the hitting time of A starting from x. As an application, we show
that the mixing time on a finite binary tree is robust to bounded change of
edge conductances. (Joint work with Yuval Peres)