We study two random processes on an n-vertex graph inspired by the internal diffusion limited aggregation (IDLA) model. These processes can also be regarded as protocols for allocating jobs in a distributed network of servers. In both processes n particles start from an arbitrary but fixed origin. Each particle performs a simple random walk until it first encounters an unoccupied vertex, at which point the vertex becomes occupied and the random walk terminates. In one of the processes, called Sequential-IDLA, a single particle moves until settling and only then does the next particle start whereas in the second process, called Parallel-IDLA, all unsettled particles move simultaneously. The second process is akin to running the first in parallel. Our main goal is to analyze the so-called dispersion time of these processes, which is the maximum number of steps performed by any of the n particles. In order to compare the two processes, we develop a coupling which shows the dispersion time of the Parallel-IDLA stochastically dominates that of the Sequential-IDLA; however, the total number of steps performed by all particles has the same distribution in both processes. This coupling also gives us that dispersion time of Parallel-IDLA is bounded in expectation by dispersion time of the Sequential-IDLA up to a multiplicative log n factor. Moreover, we derive asymptotic upper and lower bound on the dispersion time for several graph classes, such as cliques, cycles, binary trees, d-dimensional grids, hypercubes and expanders. Most of our bounds are tight up to a multiplicative constant.
To the best of our knowledge, the dispersion time and IDLA on a finite graph has not been studied before. Moore and Machta consider running IDLA walks synchronously for the purposes of simulating the limit shape @cite_21 in parallel models of computation, however their results don't appear to overlap with ours. Simulating the process efficiently has also been studied more recently @cite_29 .
@cite_29 @cite_21
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Suppose that G and H are finite, connected graphs, G regular, X is a lazy random walk on G and Z is a reversible ergodic Markov chain on H. The generalized lamplighter chain X* associated with X and Z is the random walk on the wreath product H G, the graph whose vertices consist of pairs (f,x) where f=(f_v)_ v V(G) is a labeling of the vertices of G by elements of H and x is a vertex in G. In each step, X* moves from a configuration (f,x) by updating x to y using the transition rule of X and then independently updating both f_x and f_y according to the transition probabilities on H; f_z for z different of x,y remains unchanged. We estimate the mixing time of X* in terms of the parameters of H and G. Further, we show that the relaxation time of X* is the same order as the maximal expected hitting time of G plus |G| times the relaxation time of the chain on H. We study an evolving spatial network in which sequentially arriving vertices are joined to existing vertices at random according to a rule that combines preference according to degree with preference according to spatial proximity. We investigate phase transitions in graph structure as the relative weighting of these two components of the attachment rule is varied. Previous work of one of the authors showed that when the geometric component is weak, the limiting degree sequence of the resulting graph coincides with that of the standard Barab 'asi--Albert preferential attachment model. We show that at the other extreme, in the case of a sufficiently strong geometric component, the limiting degree sequence coincides with that of a purely geometric model, the on-line nearest-neighbour graph, which is of interest in its own right and for which we prove some extensions of known results. We also show the presence of an intermediate regime, in which the behaviour differs significantly from both the on-line nearest-neighbour graph and the Barab 'asi--Albert model; in this regime, we obtain a stretched exponential upper bound on the degree sequence. Our results lend some mathematical support to simulation studies of Manna and Sen, while proving that the power law to stretched exponential phase transition occurs at a different point from the one conjectured by those authors. Given a finite graph @math , a vertex of the lamplighter graph @math consists of a zero-one labeling of the vertices of @math , and a marked vertex of @math . For transitive @math we show that, up to constants, the relaxation time for simple random walk in @math is the maximal hitting time for simple random walk in @math , while the mixing time in total variation on @math is the expected cover time on @math . The mixing time in the uniform metric on @math admits a sharp threshold, and equals @math multiplied by the relaxation time on @math , up to a factor of @math . For @math , the lamplighter group over the discrete two dimensional torus, the relaxation time is of order @math , the total variation mixing time is of order @math , and the uniform mixing time is of order @math . For @math when @math , the relaxation time is of order @math , the total variation mixing time is of order @math , and the uniform mixing time is of order @math . In particular, these three quantities are of different orders of magnitude. Suppose that G is a finite, connected graph and X is a lazy random walk on G . The lamplighter chain X ? associated with X is the random walk on the wreath product G ? =Z 2 ?G , the graph whose vertices consist of pairs (f - ,x) where f is a labeling of the vertices of G by elements of Z 2 = 0,1 and x is a vertex in G . There is an edge between (f - ,x) and (g - ,y) in G ? if and only if x is adjacent to y in G and f z =g z for all z?x,y . In each step, X ? moves from a configuration (f - ,x) by updating x to y using the transition rule of X and then sampling both f x and f y according to the uniform distribution on Z 2 ; f z for z?x,y remains unchanged. We give matching upper and lower bounds on the uniform mixing time of X ? provided G satisfies mild hypotheses. In particular, when G is the hypercube Z d 2 , we show that the uniform mixing time of X ? is T(d2 d ) . More generally, we show that when G is a torus Z d n for d=3 , the uniform mixing time of X ? is T(dn d ) uniformly in n and d . A critical ingredient for our proof is a concentration estimate for the local time of the random walk in a subset of vertices.