arXiv subjects

Eric Vigoda

Publications and source records attributed to Eric Vigoda.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Flip Dynamics for Sampling Colorings: Improving $(11/6-ε)$ Using a Simple Metric

We present improved bounds for randomly sampling $k$-colorings of graphs with maximum degree $Δ$; our results hold without any further structural assumptions on the graph. The Glauber dynamics is a simple single-site update Markov chain. Jerrum (1995) proved an optimal $O(n\log{n})$ mixing-time bound for Glauber dynamics whenever $k>2Δ$ where $Δ$ is the maximum degree of the input graph. This bound was improved by Vigoda (1999) to $k>(11/6)Δ$ using a "flip" dynamics which recolors (small) maximal two-colored components in each step. Vigoda's result was the best known for general graphs for 20 years until Chen et al. (2019) established optimal mixing of the flip dynamics for $k>(11/6-\varepsilon)Δ$ where $\varepsilon\approx 10^{-5}$. We present the first substantial improvement over these results. We prove an optimal mixing-time bound of $O(n\log{n})$ for the flip dynamics when $Δ\geq125$ and $k\geq1.809Δ$. This yields, through recent spectral independence results, an optimal $O(n\log{n})$ mixing time for the Glauber dynamics for every fixed $Δ\geq125$ in the same range of $k/Δ$. Our proof utilizes path coupling with a simple weighted Hamming distance for "unblocked" neighbors.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2026

Fast FPRAS for the Permanent

We give an FPRAS for the permanent of an $n\times n$ $0/1$ matrix with running time $\widetilde{O}(n^{3.5}\varepsilon^{-2})$. Our algorithm extends to a strongly polynomial FPRAS for arbitrary nonnegative matrices, as in previous works. Jerrum, Sinclair, and Vigoda (2004) gave the first FPRAS for the permanent of a nonnegative matrix. The running time was subsequently improved to $\widetilde{O}(n^7)$ by Bezáková, Štefankovič, Vazirani, and Vigoda (2008), and recently to $\widetilde{O}(n^6)$ by Chen, Vigoda, and Yang (2026). We introduce a multicommodity-flow bound inspired by electrical flows, replacing the usual path-length factor by routing energy. For a boosted version of the classical JSV chain, we prove a relaxation-time bound of $O(n^3\log n)$ and show that stationary trajectories of this length estimate all stationary hole-pattern probabilities, yielding an $\widetilde O(n^5)$-time FPRAS algorithm. Our new hole-weighted slide (HWS) chain improves both bounds to $O(n^2\log n)$, yielding an $\widetilde O(n^4)$-time algorithm. Finally, we obtain the claimed $\widetilde O(n^{3.5})$ running time by using a subset of $\widetilde{O}(\sqrt{n})$ checkpoint temperatures in an iterated sequence of warm-starts to obtain initializations at every temperature.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2026

Sampling Colorings Close to the Maximum Degree: Non-Markovian Coupling and Local Uniformity

Sampling graph colorings via local Markov chains is a central problem in approximate counting and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). We address the problem of sampling a random $k$-coloring of a graph with maximum degree $Δ$. The simplest algorithmic approach is to establish rapid mixing of the single-site update chain known as the Metropolis Glauber dynamics, which at each step chooses a random vertex $v$ and proposes a random color $c$, recoloring $v$ to $c$ if the resulting coloring remains proper. It is a long-standing open problem to prove that the Glauber dynamics has polynomial mixing time on all graphs whenever $k\geqΔ+2$. We prove that for every $δ>0$ and all $Δ\geq Δ_0(δ)$, if $k\ge (1+δ)Δ$ then the Glauber dynamics has optimal mixing time of $O_δ(|V| \log |V|)$ on any graph of girth $\geq 7$ and maximum degree $Δ$. Our approach builds on a non-Markovian coupling introduced by Hayes and Vigoda (2003) for the large-degree regime $Δ=Ω(\log n)$ and girth $11$, in which updates at time $t$ may depend on and modify proposed updates at future times. A complete analysis of this framework requires resolving substantial technical obstacles that remain in the original argument, and extending it to the constant-degree regime introduces further difficulties, since non-Markovian updates may fail with constant probability. We overcome these obstacles by developing and analyzing a refined local non-Markovian coupling, and by establishing new local-uniformity results for the Metropolis dynamics, extending prior results for the heat-bath chain due to Hayes (2013). Together, these ingredients provide a complete analysis of the non-Markovian coupling framework in the large-degree regime, while simultaneously strengthening it substantially to obtain optimal mixing all the way down to the constant-degree setting.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2026

Faster FPRAS for the Permanent via Restricted Poincaré Inequalities and Coupled Flows

The permanent of an $n\times n$ $0/1$ matrix $A$ equals the number of perfect matchings in the bipartite graph with edges defined by $A$. Jerrum, Sinclair, and Vigoda (2004) presented an FPRAS for approximating the permanent of any nonnegative matrix using a novel simulated-annealing algorithm. The running time was improved by Bezáková, Štefankovič, Vazirani, and Vigoda (2008) to $O(n^7\log^4 n)$ for $0/1$ matrices, for any fixed approximation and success parameters. We present the first asymptotic improvement over this running time bound, obtaining an $O(n^6\log^5 n)$-time algorithm. As in the previous works, our algorithm extends to arbitrary nonnegative matrices. The analysis of Bezáková et al. yields an $O(n^4)$ relaxation time bound for the JSV Markov chain on perfect and near-perfect matchings with ideal hole weights, under which each hole pattern (the unmatched vertices, if any) is equally likely in the stationary distribution. We introduce a restricted Poincaré inequality for the partition into hole patterns and prove an $O(n^3)$ bound on the corresponding restricted relaxation time. Our proof uses a coupled multicommodity flow argument inspired by a recent transport-flow argument of Chen et al.~(2025) for the Jerrum-Sinclair chain on all matchings.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2026

Mixing of general biased adjacent transposition chains

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 $j$ with probability $p_{ij}$. This Markov chain arises in the study of self-organizing lists in theoretical computer science, and has close connections to exclusion processes from statistical physics and probability theory. Fill (2003) conjectured that for general $p_{ij}$ satisfying $p_{ij} \ge 1/2$ for all $i 0$, as long as $p_{ij} >1/2+\varepsilon$ for all $i<j$, the mixing time is $Θ(n^2)$ and exhibits pre-cutoff. Our key technical result is a form of spatial mixing for the general biased transposition chain after a suitable burn-in period. In order to use this for a mixing time bound, we adapt multiscale arguments for mixing times from the setting of spin systems to the symmetric group.

math.PR↗

arXiv2026

Spectral Independence and Local-to-Global Techniques for Optimal Mixing of Markov Chains

This monograph is an exposition on an exciting new technique known as spectral independence, which has been instrumental in analyzing the convergence rate of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms. For a high-dimensional distribution defined on labelings of the vertices of an $n$-vertex graph, the spectral independence condition, introduced by Anari, Liu, and Oveis Gharan (2020), is a bound on the maximum eigenvalue of the influence matrix capturing the influence between pairs of vertices (closely related to the covariance between the variables). In the first part of the monograph, we present results showing that spectral independence (and related techniques) imply fast mixing of simple Markov chains such as the Glauber dynamics (aka Gibbs sampler). These proofs rely on local-to-global theorems relating local walks encoding pairwise correlations to variance decay and mixing properties of Markov chains. We focus on two applications: the hard-core model on independent sets of a graph (which is a combinatorial example of a binary graphical model) and random bases of a matroid. We apply the techniques presented in this monograph to show recent results of fast mixing of the Glauber dynamics on general graphs in the so-called tree-uniqueness region, polynomial-time mixing on general graphs at the critical point for the uniqueness threshold, polynomial-time mixing on random regular graphs beyond the uniqueness threshold, and fast mixing of the bases-exchange walk for generating a random basis of an arbitrary matroid. Our focus in this monograph is on the analysis of the spectral gap of the associated Markov chains from a functional analysis perspective; we present proofs of the associated local-to-global theorems and the Trickle-Down Theorem from this same Markov chain perspective. The monograph is self-contained and aims to present the proofs in a unified fashion.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2026

Sampling Simultaneous Edge-Colorings

We study the sampling problem for simultaneous edge colorings. Given a pair of graphs $G_1=(V,E_1)$ and $G_2=(V,E_2)$ which are on the same vertex set $V$, a simultaneous edge coloring is an edge coloring of $G_1\cup G_2$ so that each of the individual graphs is properly colored. When each of $G_1$ and $G_2$ are of maximum degree $Δ$, then it is conjectured that $Δ+2$ colors suffice, and recent work asymptotically establishes the conjecture. We study Markov chains for randomly sampling from the uniform distribution over simultaneous edge colorings. Straightforward applications of Jerrum's classical coupling argument establish rapid mixing of the Glauber dynamics on the corresponding line graph when $k>8Δ$. We present a simple weighted Hamming distance for which Jerrum's coupling yields optimal mixing time (up to constant factors) of $O(m\log{n})$ when $k>(6+δ)Δ$ for any fixed $δ>0$. Moreover, utilizing the flip dynamics with our new metric, we obtain $O(m\log{n})$ mixing of the flip dynamics when $k\geq 5.948Δ$, using a local choice of flip parameters which only flips bounded-size components. The proof adapts previous coupling analyses for the flip dynamics to the setting of simultaneous edge colorings.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2026

Critical window for approximate counting in dense Ising models

We study the complexity of approximating the partition function of dense Ising models in the critical regime. Recent work of Chen, Chen, Yin, and Zhang (FOCS 2025) established fast mixing at criticality, and even beyond criticality in a window of width $N^{-1/2}$. We complement these algorithmic results by proving nearly tight hardness bounds, thus yielding the first instance of a sharp scaling window for the computational complexity of approximate counting. Specifically, for the dense Ising model we show that approximating the partition function is computationally hard within a window of width $N^{-1/2+\varepsilon}$ for any constant $\varepsilon>0$. Standard hardness reductions for non-critical regimes break down at criticality due to bigger fluctuations in the underlying gadgets, leading to suboptimal bounds. We overcome this barrier via a global approach which aggregates fluctuations across all gadgets rather than requiring tight concentration guarantees for each individually. This new approach yields the optimal exponent for the critical window.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2025

Improved Distributed Algorithms for Random Colorings

We study distributed versions of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms for generating random $k$-colorings of an input graph with maximum degree $Δ$. In the sequential setting, the Glauber dynamics is the simple MCMC algorithm which updates the color at a randomly chosen vertex in each step. Fischer and Ghaffari (2018), and independently Feng, Hayes, and Yin (2018), presented a parallel and distributed version of the Glauber dynamics which converges in $O(\log{n})$ rounds for $k>(2+\varepsilon)Δ$ for any $\varepsilon>0$. We present the distributed flip dynamics and prove $O(n\log{n})$ mixing for $k>(11/6-δ)Δ$ for a fixed $δ>0$. Our new Markov chain is a generalization of the distributed Glauber dynamics previously analyzed, and is a parallel and distributed version of the more general flip dynamics considered in the sequential setting which recolors local maximal two-colored components in each step. While the distributed Glauber dynamics and the sequential flip dynamics are symmetric Markov chains, and hence their stationary distribution is uniformly distributed over colorings, our distributed flip dynamics is not symmetric and hence the stationary distribution is unclear.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2024

Counting and Sampling Labeled Chordal Graphs in Polynomial Time

We present the first polynomial-time algorithm to exactly compute the number of labeled chordal graphs on $n$ vertices. Our algorithm solves a more general problem: given $n$ and $ω$ as input, it computes the number of $ω$-colorable labeled chordal graphs on $n$ vertices, using $O(n^7)$ arithmetic operations. A standard sampling-to-counting reduction then yields a polynomial-time exact sampler that generates an $ω$-colorable labeled chordal graph on $n$ vertices uniformly at random. Our counting algorithm improves upon the previous best result by Wormald (1985), which computes the number of labeled chordal graphs on $n$ vertices in time exponential in $n$. An implementation of the polynomial-time counting algorithm gives the number of labeled chordal graphs on up to $30$ vertices in less than three minutes on a standard desktop computer. Previously, the number of labeled chordal graphs was only known for graphs on up to $15$ vertices. In addition, we design two approximation algorithms: (1) an approximate counting algorithm that computes a $(1\pm\varepsilon)$-approximation of the number of $n$-vertex labeled chordal graphs, and (2) an approximate sampling algorithm that generates a random labeled chordal graph according to a distribution whose total variation distance from the uniform distribution is at most $\varepsilon$. The approximate counting algorithm runs in $O(n^3\log{n}\log^7(1/\varepsilon))$ time, and the approximate sampling algorithm runs in $O(n^3\log{n}\log^7(1/\varepsilon))$ expected time.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2024

Optimal Mixing via Tensorization for Random Independent Sets on Arbitrary Trees

We study the mixing time of the single-site update Markov chain, known as the Glauber dynamics, for generating a random independent set of a tree. Our focus is obtaining optimal convergence results for arbitrary trees. We consider the more general problem of sampling from the Gibbs distribution in the hard-core model where independent sets are weighted by a parameter $λ>0$; the special case $λ=1$ corresponds to the uniform distribution over all independent sets. Previous work of Martinelli, Sinclair and Weitz (2004) obtained optimal mixing time bounds for the complete $Δ$-regular tree for all $λ$. However, Restrepo et al. (2014) showed that for sufficiently large $λ$ there are bounded-degree trees where optimal mixing does not hold. Recent work of Eppstein and Frishberg (2022) proved a polynomial mixing time bound for the Glauber dynamics for arbitrary trees, and more generally for graphs of bounded tree-width. We establish an optimal bound on the relaxation time (i.e., inverse spectral gap) of $O(n)$ for the Glauber dynamics for unweighted independent sets on arbitrary trees. We stress that our results hold for arbitrary trees and there is no dependence on the maximum degree $Δ$. Interestingly, our results extend (far) beyond the uniqueness threshold which is on the order $λ=O(1/Δ)$. Our proof approach is inspired by recent work on spectral independence. In fact, we prove that spectral independence holds with a constant independent of the maximum degree for any tree, but this does not imply mixing for general trees as the optimal mixing results of Chen, Liu, and Vigoda (2021) only apply for bounded degree graphs. We instead utilize the combinatorial nature of independent sets to directly prove approximate tensorization of variance via a non-trivial inductive proof.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2024

Complexity of High-Dimensional Identity Testing with Coordinate Conditional Sampling

We study the identity testing problem for high-dimensional distributions. Given as input an explicit distribution $μ$, an $\varepsilon>0$, and access to sampling oracle(s) for a hidden distribution $π$, the goal in identity testing is to distinguish whether the two distributions $μ$ and $π$ are identical or are at least $\varepsilon$-far apart. When there is only access to full samples from the hidden distribution $π$, it is known that exponentially many samples (in the dimension) may be needed for identity testing, and hence previous works have studied identity testing with additional access to various "conditional" sampling oracles. We consider a significantly weaker conditional sampling oracle, which we call the $\mathsf{Coordinate\ Oracle}$, and provide a computational and statistical characterization of the identity testing problem in this new model. We prove that if an analytic property known as approximate tensorization of entropy holds for an $n$-dimensional visible distribution $μ$, then there is an efficient identity testing algorithm for any hidden distribution $π$ using $\tilde{O}(n/\varepsilon)$ queries to the $\mathsf{Coordinate\ Oracle}$. Approximate tensorization of entropy is a pertinent condition as recent works have established it for a large class of high-dimensional distributions. We also prove a computational phase transition: for a well-studied class of $n$-dimensional distributions, specifically sparse antiferromagnetic Ising models over $\{+1,-1\}^n$, we show that in the regime where approximate tensorization of entropy fails, there is no efficient identity testing algorithm unless $\mathsf{RP}=\mathsf{NP}$. We complement our results with a matching $Ω(n/\varepsilon)$ statistical lower bound for the sample complexity of identity testing in the $\mathsf{Coordinate\ Oracle}$ model.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2024

Spectral Independence via Stability and Applications to Holant-Type Problems

This paper formalizes connections between stability of polynomials and convergence rates of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms. We prove that if a (multivariate) partition function is nonzero in a region around a real point $λ$ then spectral independence holds at $λ$. As a consequence, for Holant-type problems (e.g., spin systems) on bounded-degree graphs, we obtain optimal $O(n\log n)$ mixing time bounds for the single-site update Markov chain known as the Glauber dynamics. Our result significantly improves the running time guarantees obtained via the polynomial interpolation method of Barvinok (2017), refined by Patel and Regts (2017). There are a variety of applications of our results. In this paper, we focus on Holant-type (i.e., edge-coloring) problems, including weighted edge covers and weighted even subgraphs. For the weighted edge cover problem (and several natural generalizations) we obtain an $O(n\log{n})$ sampling algorithm on bounded-degree graphs. The even subgraphs problem corresponds to the high-temperature expansion of the ferromagnetic Ising model. We obtain an $O(n\log{n})$ sampling algorithm for the ferromagnetic Ising model with a nonzero external field on bounded-degree graphs, which improves upon the classical result of Jerrum and Sinclair (1993) for this class of graphs. We obtain further applications to antiferromagnetic two-spin models on line graphs, weighted graph homomorphisms, tensor networks, and more.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2024

Optimal Mixing for Randomly Sampling Edge Colorings on Trees Down to the Max Degree

We address the convergence rate of Markov chains for randomly generating an edge coloring of a given tree. Our focus is on the Glauber dynamics which updates the color at a randomly chosen edge in each step. For a tree $T$ with $n$ vertices and maximum degree $Δ$, when the number of colors $q$ satisfies $q\geqΔ+2$ then we prove that the Glauber dynamics has an optimal relaxation time of $O(n)$, where the relaxation time is the inverse of the spectral gap. This is optimal in the range of $q$ in terms of $Δ$ as Dyer, Goldberg, and Jerrum (2006) showed that the relaxation time is $Ω(n^3)$ when $q=Δ+1$. For the case $q=Δ+1$, we show that an alternative Markov chain which updates a pair of neighboring edges has relaxation time $O(n)$. Moreover, for the $Δ$-regular complete tree we prove $O(n\log^2{n})$ mixing time bounds for the respective Markov chain. Our proofs establish approximate tensorization of variance via a novel inductive approach, where the base case is a tree of height $\ell=O(Δ^2\log^2Δ)$, which we analyze using a canonical paths argument.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2023

Optimal Mixing of Glauber Dynamics: Entropy Factorization via High-Dimensional Expansion

We prove an optimal mixing time bound on the single-site update Markov chain known as the Glauber dynamics or Gibbs sampling in a variety of settings. Our work presents an improved version of the spectral independence approach of Anari et al. (2020) and shows $O(n\log{n})$ mixing time on any $n$-vertex graph of bounded degree when the maximum eigenvalue of an associated influence matrix is bounded. As an application of our results, for the hard-core model on independent sets weighted by a fugacity $λ$, we establish $O(n\log{n})$ mixing time for the Glauber dynamics on any $n$-vertex graph of constant maximum degree $Δ$ when $λ<λ_c(Δ)$ where $λ_c(Δ)$ is the critical point for the uniqueness/non-uniqueness phase transition on the $Δ$-regular tree. More generally, for any antiferromagnetic 2-spin system we prove $O(n\log{n})$ mixing time of the Glauber dynamics on any bounded degree graph in the corresponding tree uniqueness region. Our results apply more broadly; for example, we also obtain $O(n\log{n})$ mixing for $q$-colorings of triangle-free graphs of maximum degree $Δ$ when the number of colors satisfies $q > αΔ$ where $α\approx 1.763$, and $O(m\log{n})$ mixing for generating random matchings of any graph with bounded degree and $m$ edges.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2023

Metastability of the Potts ferromagnet on random regular graphs

We study the performance of Markov chains for the $q$-state ferromagnetic Potts model on random regular graphs. It is conjectured that their performance is dictated by metastability phenomena, i.e., the presence of "phases" (clusters) in the sample space where Markov chains with local update rules, such as the Glauber dynamics, are bound to take exponential time to escape. The phases that are believed to drive these metastability phenomena in the case of the Potts model emerge as local, rather than global, maxima of the so-called Bethe functional, and previous approaches of analysing these phases based on optimisation arguments fall short of the task. Our first contribution is to detail the emergence of the metastable phases for the $q$-state Potts model on the $d$-regular random graph for all integers $q,d\geq 3$, and establish that for an interval of temperatures, which is delineated by the uniqueness and a broadcasting threshold on the $d$-regular tree, the two phases coexist. The proofs are based on a conceptual connection between spatial properties and the structure of the Potts distribution on the random regular graph, rather than complicated moment calculations. Based on this new structural understanding of the model, we obtain various algorithmic consequences. We first complement recent fast mixing results for Glauber dynamics by Blanca and Gheissari below the uniqueness threshold, showing an exponential lower bound on the mixing time above the uniqueness threshold. Then, we obtain tight results even for the non-local Swendsen-Wang chain, where we establish slow mixing/metastability for the whole interval of temperatures where the chain is conjectured to mix slowly on the random regular graph. The key is to bound the conductance of the chains using a random graph "planting" argument combined with delicate bounds on random-graph percolation.

math.PR↗

arXiv2022

Approximating observables is as hard as counting

We study the computational complexity of estimating local observables for Gibbs distributions. A simple combinatorial example is the average size of an independent set in a graph. In a recent work, we established NP-hardness of approximating the average size of an independent set utilizing hardness of the corresponding optimization problem and the related phase transition behavior. Here, we instead consider settings where the underlying optimization problem is easily solvable. Our main contribution is to classify the complexity of approximating a wide class of observables via a generic reduction from approximate counting to the problem of estimating local observables. The key idea is to use the observables to interpolate the counting problem. Using this new approach, we are able to study observables on bipartite graphs where the underlying optimization problem is easy but the counting problem is believed to be hard. The most-well studied class of graphs that was excluded from previous hardness results were bipartite graphs. We establish hardness for estimating the average size of the independent set in bipartite graphs of maximum degree 6; more generally, we show tight hardness results for general vertex-edge observables for antiferromagnetic 2-spin systems on bipartite graphs. Our techniques go beyond 2-spin systems, and for the ferromagnetic Potts model we establish hardness of approximating the number of monochromatic edges in the same region as known hardness of approximate counting results.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2021

The complexity of approximating averages on bounded-degree graphs

We prove that, unless P=NP, there is no polynomial-time algorithm to approximate within some multiplicative constant the average size of an independent set in graphs of maximum degree 6. This is a special case of a more general result for the hard-core model defined on independent sets weighted by a parameter $λ>0$. In the general setting, we prove that, unless P=NP, for all $Δ\geq 3$, all $λ>λ_c(Δ)$, there is no FPTAS which applies to all graphs of maximum degree $Δ$ for computing the average size of the independent set in the Gibbs distribution, where $λ_c(Δ)$ is the critical point for the uniqueness/non-uniqueness phase transition on the $Δ$-regular tree. Moreover, we prove that for $λ$ in a dense set of this non-uniqueness region the problem is NP-hard to approximate within some constant factor. Our work extends to the antiferromagnetic Ising model and generalizes to all 2-spin antiferromagnetic models, establishing hardness of computing the average magnetization in the tree non-uniqueness region. Previously, Schulman, Sinclair and Srivastava (2015) showed that it is #P-hard to compute the average magnetization exactly, but no hardness of approximation results were known. Hardness results of Sly (2010) and Sly and Sun (2014) for approximating the partition function do not imply hardness of computing averages. The new ingredient in our reduction is an intricate construction of pairs of rooted trees whose marginal distributions at the root agree but their derivatives disagree. The main technical contribution is controlling what marginal distributions and derivatives are achievable and using Cauchy's functional equation to argue existence of the gadgets.

cs.CC↗