Edge-flip on triangulations of a convex polygon

Workshop introduction

In general, we will use the following notation in the problem list. We consider aperiodic irreducible Markov chains on a state space, $\Omega$ with unique invariant (stationary) distribution $\pi$. In the discrete time setting we allow the matrix $(P)_{x,y\in\Omega}$ with $P_{xy}=P(x,y)$ to denote the transition matrix of the Markov chain.

A chain is reversible if $\pi(x)P(x,y)=\pi(y)P(y,x)$ for all $x,y\in\Omega$. $Q(x,y)=\pi(x)P(x,y)$ is the edge measure on $(x,y)$. We denote by $t_{\mbox{mix}}$ the total variation mixing time defined as

and set $t_{\mbox{mix}}=t_{\mbox{mix}}(\epsilon)$, where the total variation distance

Historical workshop record. Current open/solved status has not been independently reassessed.

Status note in the source

Known lower bound $\Omega(n^{3/2})$, by Molloy, Reed, Steiger (1998). Known upper bound $O(n^5\log n)$, by McShine and Tetali. Conjecture: the lower bound gives the right order.