arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Jason Fulman.
Combining Stein's method with heat kernel techniques, we show that the trace of the jth power of an element of U(n,C), USp(n,C) or SO(n,R) has a normal limit with error term of order j/n. In contrast to previous works, here j may be growing with n. The technique should prove useful in the study of the value distribution of approximate eigenfunctions of Laplacians.
We develop cycle index generating functions for orthogonal groups in even characteristic, and give some enumerative applications. A key step is the determination of the values of the complex linear-Weil characters of the finite symplectic group, and their inductions to the general linear group, at unipotent elements. We also define and study several natural probability measures on integer partitions.
We define an analog of Plancherel measure for the set of rooted unlabeled trees on n vertices, and a Markov chain which has this measure as its stationary distribution. Using the combinatorics of commutation relations, we show that order n^2 steps are necessary and suffice for convergence to the stationary distribution.
Adding a column of numbers produces "carries" along the way. We show that random digits produce a pattern of carries with a neat probabilistic description: the carries form a one-dependent determinantal point process. This makes it easy to answer natural questions: How many carries are typical? Where are they located? We show that many further examples, from combinatorics, algebra and group theory, have essentially the same neat formulae, and that any one-dependent point process on the integers is determinantal. The examples give a gentle introduction to the emerging fields of one-dependent and determinantal point processes.
We present explicit upper bounds for the number and size of conjugacy classes in finite Chevalley groups and their variations. These results have been used by many authors to study zeta functions associated to representations of finite simple groups, random walks on Chevalley groups, the final solution to the Ore conjecture about commutators in finite simple groups and other similar problems. In this paper, we solve a strong version of the Boston-Shalev conjecture on derangements in simple groups for most of the families of primitive permutation group representations of finite simple groups (the remaining cases are settled in two other papers of the authors and applications are given in a third).
The "carries" when n random numbers are added base b form a Markov chain with an "amazing" transition matrix determined by Holte. This same Markov chain occurs in following the number of descents or rising sequences when n cards are repeatedly riffle shuffled. We give generating and symmetric function proofs and determine the rate of convergence of this Markov chain to stationarity. Similar results are given for type B shuffles. We also develop connections with Gaussian autoregressive processes and the Veronese mapping of commutative algebra.
General Berry-Esseen bounds are developed for the exponential distribution using Stein's method. As an application, a sharp error term is obtained for Hora's result that the spectrum of the Bernoulli-Laplace Markov chain has an exponential limit. This is the first use of Stein's method to study the spectrum of a graph with a non-normal limit.
Stein's method is used to study the trace of a random element from a compact Lie group or symmetric space. Central limit theorems are proved using very little information: character values on a single element and the decomposition of the square of the trace into irreducible components. This is illustrated for Lie groups of classical type and Dyson's circular ensembles. The approach in this paper will be useful for the study of higher dimensional characters, where normal approximations need not hold.
The number of ``carries'' when $n$ random integers are added forms a Markov chain [23]. We show that this Markov chain has the same transition matrix as the descent process when a deck of $n$ cards is repeatedly riffle shuffled. This gives new results for the statistics of carries and shuffling.
It is shown that the combinatorics of commutation relations is well suited for analyzing the convergence rate of certain Markov chains. Examples studied include random walk on irreducible representations, a local random walk on partitions whose stationary distribution is the Ewens distribution, and some birth-death chains.
The number of fixed points of a random permutation of 1,2,...,n has a limiting Poisson distribution. We seek a generalization, looking at other actions of the symmetric group. Restricting attention to primitive actions, a complete classification of the limiting distributions is given. For most examples, they are trivial -- almost every permutation has no fixed points. For the usual action of the symmetric group on k-sets of 1,2,...,n, the limit is a polynomial in independent Poisson variables. This exhausts all cases. We obtain asymptotic estimates in some examples, and give a survey of related results.
Random walk on the irreducible representations of the symmetric and general linear groups is studied. A separation distance cutoff is proved and the exact separation distance asymptotics are determined. A key tool is a method for writing the multiplicities in the Kronecker tensor powers of a fixed representation as a sum of non-negative terms. Connections are made with the Lagrange-Sylvester interpolation approach to Markov chains.
Random walk on the set of irreducible representations of a finite group is investigated. For the symmetric and general linear groups, a sharp convergence rate bound is obtained and a cutoff phenomenon is proved. As related results, an asymptotic description of Plancherel measure of the finite general linear groups is given, and a connection of these random walks with quantum computing is noted.
Bolthausen used a variation of Stein's method to give an inductive proof of the Berry-Esseen theorem for sums of independent, identically distributed random variables. We modify this technique to prove a Berry-Esseen theorem for character ratios of a random representation of the symmetric group on transpositions. An analogous result is proved for Jack measure on partitions.
It is shown that a wide range of probabilities and limiting probabilities in finite classical groups have integral coefficients when expanded as a power series in 1/q. Moreover it is proved that the coefficients of the limiting probabilities in the general linear and unitary cases are equal modulo 2. The rate of stabilization of the finite dimensional coefficients as the dimension increases is discussed.
Stein's method is used to prove limit theorems for random character ratios. Tools are developed for four types of structures: finite groups, Gelfand pairs, twisted Gelfand pairs, and association schemes. As one example an error term is obtained for a central limit theorem of Kerov on the spectrum of the Cayley graph of the symmetric group generated by i-cycles, or equivalently for the character ratio of a Plancherel distributed representation on an i-cycle. Other main examples include an error term for a central limit theorem of Ivanov on character ratios of random projective representations of the symmetric group, and a new central limit theorem for the spectrum of certain graphs whose vertices are the set of perfect matchings on 2n symbols. The error terms in the resulting limit theorems are typically O(n^{-1/4}) or better. The results are obtained with remarkably little information: a character formula for a single representation close to the trivial representation and estimates on two step transition probabilities of a random walk. Although the limit theorems stated in this paper are all for the case of normal approximation, many of the tools developed are quite general. Indeed, both the construction of an exchangeable pair used for Stein's method and lemmas computing certain moments are useful for arbitrary distributional approximation.
Motivated by Bourque and Pevzner's simulation study of the parsimony method for studying genome rearrangement, Berestycki and Durrett used techniques from random graph theory to prove that the minimum parsimony distance after iterating the random transposition shuffle undergoes a transition from Poisson to normal behavior. This paper establishes an analogous result for minimum parsimony distance after iterates of riffle shuffles or iterates of riffle shuffles and cuts. The analysis is elegant and uses different tools: Stein's method and generating functions. A useful technique which emerges is that of making a problem more tractable by adding extra symmetry, then using Stein's method to exploit the symmetry in the modified problem, and from this deducing information about the original problem.
Let W be either the number of descents or inversions of a permutation. Stein's method is applied to show that W satisfies a central limit theorem with error rate n^(-1/2). The construction of an exchangeable pair (W,W') used in Stein's method is non-trivial and uses a non-reversible Markov chain.