Cutoff profiles for conjugacy invariant random walks on symmetric groups

Abstract

We prove asymptotic equivalents of characters for finite-level representations of symmetric groups, that is, for Young diagrams which have all but finitely many boxes on their first row. The proofs rely on computing the number of ribbon tableaux of different types, which allows us to estimate characters via the Murnaghan--Nakayama rule. We deduce that random walks on symmetric groups generated by conjugacy classes with a macroscopic number of fixed points have a Poissonian cutoff profile. We also prove that the random involution walk exhibits cutoff and find its cutoff profile. Finally, we obtain numerics for the random transposition walk on a deck of 52 cards, giving concrete estimates on the question that originally motivated Diaconis and Shahshahani.