Linear cover time is exponentially unlikely

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Quentin Dubroff, Rutgers University
Fine Hall 224

In-Person Talk 

Proving a 2009 conjecture of Itai Benjamini, we show: For any C, there is a > 0 such that for any simple random walk on an n-vertex graph G, the probability that the first Cn steps of the walk hit every vertex of G is at most exp[-an]. A first ingredient of the proof is a similar statement for Markov chains in which all transition probabilities are less than a suitable function of C. Joint with Jeff Kahn.