Evasive Random Walks and the Clairvoyant Demon

Abstract

A pair of random walks $(R,S)$ on the vertices of a graph $G$ is {\it successful} if two tokens can be scheduled (moving only one token at a time) to travel along $R$ and $S$ without colliding. We consider questions related to P. Winkler's {\it clairvoyant demon problem}, which asks whether for random walks $R$ and $S$ on $G$, $Pr[\ (R,S) \mbox{ is successful }] >0$. We introduce the notion of an {\it evasive} walk on $G$: a walk $S$ so that for a random walk $R$ on $G$, $Pr[\ (R,S) \mbox{ is successful }]>0$. We characterize graphs $G$ having evasive walks, giving explicit constructions on such $G$. On a cycle, we show that with high probability the tokens must collide quickly. Finally we consider two variants of the problem for which, under certain assumptions on the graph $G$, we provide algorithms that schedule $(R,S)$ successfully with positive probability.