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Francis Edward Su

Publications and source records attributed to Francis Edward Su.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Random walks on the torus with several generators

Our paper gives bounds for the rate of convergence for a class of random walks on the d-dimensional torus generated by a set of n vectors in R^d/Z^d. We give bounds on the discrepancy distance from Haar measure; our lower bound holds for all such walks, and if the generators arise from the rows of a "badly approximable" matrix, then there is a corresponding upper bound. The bounds are sharp for walks on the circle.

math.PR↗

A Constructive Proof of Ky Fan's Generalization of Tucker's Lemma

We present a constructive proof of Ky Fan's combinatorial lemma concerning labellings of triangulated spheres. Our construction works for triangulations of $S^n$ that contain a flag of hemispheres. As a consequence, we produce a constructive proof of Tucker's lemma that holds for a larger class of triangulations than previous constructive proofs.

math.CO↗

Lower bounds for simplicial covers and triangulations of cubes

We show that the size of a minimal simplicial cover of a polytope $P$ is a lower bound for the size of a minimal triangulation of $P$, including ones with extra vertices. We then use this fact to study minimal triangulations of cubes, and we improve lower bounds for covers and triangulations in dimensions 4 through at least 12 (and possibly more dimensions as well). Important ingredients are an analysis of the number of exterior faces that a simplex in the cube can have of a specified dimension and volume, and a characterization of corner simplices in terms of their exterior faces.

math.CO↗

On choosing and bounding probability metrics

When studying convergence of measures, an important issue is the choice of probability metric. In this review, we provide a summary and some new results concerning bounds among ten important probability metrics/distances that are used by statisticians and probabilists. We focus on these metrics because they are either well-known, commonly used, or admit practical bounding techniques. We summarize these relationships in a handy reference diagram, and also give examples to show how rates of convergence can depend on the metric chosen.

math.PR↗

Discrepancy convergence for the drunkard's walk on the sphere

We analyze the drunkard's walk on the unit sphere with step size theta and show that the walk converges in order constant/sin^2(theta) steps in the discrepancy metric. This is an application of techniques we develop for bounding the discrepancy of random walks on Gelfand pairs generated by bi-invariant measures. In such cases, Fourier analysis on the acting group admits tractable computations involving spherical functions. We advocate the use of discrepancy as a metric on probabilities for state spaces with isometric group actions.

math.PR↗

Random walks with badly approximable numbers

Using the discrepancy metric, we analyze the rate of convergence of a random walk on the circle generated by d rotations, and establish sharp rates that show that badly approximable d-tuples in R^d give rise to walks with the fastest convergence. We use the discrepancy metric because the walk does not converge in total variation. For badly approximable d-tuples, the discrepancy is bounded above and below by (constant)k^(-d/2), where k is the number of steps in the random walk. We show how the constants depend on the d-tuple.

math.PR↗