We exhibit a strong connection between cover times of graphs, Gaussian processes, and Talagrand's theory of majorizing measures. In particular, we show that the cover time of any graph @math is equivalent, up to universal constants, to the square of the expected maximum of the Gaussian free field on @math , scaled by the number of edges in @math . This allows us to resolve a number of open questions. We give a deterministic polynomial-time algorithm that computes the cover time to within an O(1) factor for any graph, answering a question of Aldous and Fill (1994). We also positively resolve the blanket time conjectures of Winkler and Zuckerman (1996), showing that for any graph, the blanket and cover times are within an O(1) factor. The best previous approximation factor for both these problems was @math for @math -vertex graphs, due to Kahn, Kim, Lovasz, and Vu (2000).
A fundamental bound of Matthews @cite_46 shows that @math where we recall that @math is the expected hitting time from @math to @math . Using the straightforward lower bound @math , this fact provides a deterministic @math -approximation to @math in @math -node graphs.
@cite_46
2068008593
A general technique for proving lower bounds on expected covering times of random walks on graphs in terms of expected hitting times between vertices is given. This technique is used to prove (i) A tight bound of @math for the two-dimensional torus; (ii) A tight bound of @math for trees with maximum degree @math ; (iii) Tight bounds of @math for rapidly mixing walks on vertex transitive graphs, where @math denotes the maximum expected hitting time between vertices.In addition to these new results, the technique allows several known lower bounds on cover times to be systematically proved, often in a much simpler way.Finally, a different technique is used to prove an @math lower bound on the cover time, where @math is the second largest eigenvalue of the transition matrix. This was previously known only in the case where the walk starts in the stationary distribution [...