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Documents authored by Feng, Weiming

Document
RANDOM
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.68
Rapid Mixing via Coupling Independence for Spin Systems with Unbounded Degree

Authors: Xiaoyu Chen and Weiming Feng

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 353, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)

Abstract
We develop a new framework to prove the mixing or relaxation time for the Glauber dynamics on spin systems with unbounded degree. It works for general spin systems including both 2-spin and multi-spin systems. As applications for this approach: - We prove the optimal O(n) relaxation time for the Glauber dynamics of random q-list-coloring on an n-vertices triangle-tree graph with maximum degree Δ such that q/Δ > α^⋆, where α^⋆ ≈ 1.763 is the unique positive solution of the equation α = exp(1/α). This improves the n^{1+o(1)} relaxation time for Glauber dynamics obtained by the previous work of Jain, Pham, and Vuong (2022). Besides, our framework can also give a near-linear time sampling algorithm under the same condition. - We prove the optimal O(n) relaxation time and near-optimal Õ(n) mixing time for the Glauber dynamics on hardcore models with parameter λ in balanced bipartite graphs such that λ < λ_c(Δ_L) for the max degree Δ_L in left part and the max degree Δ_R of right part satisfies Δ_R = O(Δ_L). This improves the previous result by Chen, Liu, and Yin (2023). At the heart of our proof is the notion of coupling independence which allows us to consider multiple vertices as a huge single vertex with exponentially large domain and do a "coarse-grained" local-to-global argument on spin systems. The technique works for general (multi) spin systems and helps us obtain some new comparison results for Glauber dynamics.
Cite as

Xiaoyu Chen and Weiming Feng. Rapid Mixing via Coupling Independence for Spin Systems with Unbounded Degree. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 68:1-68:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.68,
  author =	{Chen, Xiaoyu and Feng, Weiming},
  title =	{{Rapid Mixing via Coupling Independence for Spin Systems with Unbounded Degree}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{68:1--68:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.68},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244345},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.68},
  annote =	{Keywords: coupling independence, Glauber dynamics, mixing times, relaxation times, spin systems}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.8
Rapid Mixing of the Flip Chain over Non-Crossing Spanning Trees

Authors: Konrad Anand, Weiming Feng, Graham Freifeld, Heng Guo, Mark Jerrum, and Jiaheng Wang

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 332, 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)

Abstract
We show that the flip chain for non-crossing spanning trees of n+1 points in convex position mixes in time O(n⁸log n). We use connections between Fuss-Catalan structures to construct a comparison argument with a chain similar to Wilson’s lattice path chain (Wilson 2004).
Cite as

Konrad Anand, Weiming Feng, Graham Freifeld, Heng Guo, Mark Jerrum, and Jiaheng Wang. Rapid Mixing of the Flip Chain over Non-Crossing Spanning Trees. In 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 332, pp. 8:1-8:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{anand_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.8,
  author =	{Anand, Konrad and Feng, Weiming and Freifeld, Graham and Guo, Heng and Jerrum, Mark and Wang, Jiaheng},
  title =	{{Rapid Mixing of the Flip Chain over Non-Crossing Spanning Trees}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)},
  pages =	{8:1--8:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-370-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{332},
  editor =	{Aichholzer, Oswin and Wang, Haitao},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.8},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-231607},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.8},
  annote =	{Keywords: non-crossing spanning trees, Markov chain, mixing time}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.11
Approximate Counting for Spin Systems in Sub-Quadratic Time

Authors: Konrad Anand, Weiming Feng, Graham Freifeld, Heng Guo, and Jiaheng Wang

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 297, 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)

Abstract
We present two randomised approximate counting algorithms with Õ(n^{2-c}/ε²) running time for some constant c > 0 and accuracy ε: 1) for the hard-core model with fugacity λ on graphs with maximum degree Δ when λ = O(Δ^{-1.5-c₁}) where c₁ = c/(2-2c); 2) for spin systems with strong spatial mixing (SSM) on planar graphs with quadratic growth, such as ℤ². For the hard-core model, Weitz’s algorithm (STOC, 2006) achieves sub-quadratic running time when correlation decays faster than the neighbourhood growth, namely when λ = o(Δ^{-2}). Our first algorithm does not require this property and extends the range where sub-quadratic algorithms exist. Our second algorithm appears to be the first to achieve sub-quadratic running time up to the SSM threshold, albeit on a restricted family of graphs. It also extends to (not necessarily planar) graphs with polynomial growth, such as ℤ^d, but with a running time of the form Õ(n²ε^{-2}/2^{c(log n)^{1/d}}) where d is the exponent of the polynomial growth and c > 0 is some constant.
Cite as

Konrad Anand, Weiming Feng, Graham Freifeld, Heng Guo, and Jiaheng Wang. Approximate Counting for Spin Systems in Sub-Quadratic Time. In 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 297, pp. 11:1-11:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{anand_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.11,
  author =	{Anand, Konrad and Feng, Weiming and Freifeld, Graham and Guo, Heng and Wang, Jiaheng},
  title =	{{Approximate Counting for Spin Systems in Sub-Quadratic Time}},
  booktitle =	{51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)},
  pages =	{11:1--11:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-322-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{297},
  editor =	{Bringmann, Karl and Grohe, Martin and Puppis, Gabriele and Svensson, Ola},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.11},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-201543},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.11},
  annote =	{Keywords: Randomised algorithm, Approximate counting, Spin system, Sub-quadratic algorithm}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.62
An FPRAS for Two Terminal Reliability in Directed Acyclic Graphs

Authors: Weiming Feng and Heng Guo

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 297, 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)

Abstract
We give a fully polynomial-time randomized approximation scheme (FPRAS) for two terminal reliability in directed acyclic graphs (DAGs). In contrast, we also show the complementing problem of approximating two terminal unreliability in DAGs is #BIS-hard.
Cite as

Weiming Feng and Heng Guo. An FPRAS for Two Terminal Reliability in Directed Acyclic Graphs. In 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 297, pp. 62:1-62:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{feng_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.62,
  author =	{Feng, Weiming and Guo, Heng},
  title =	{{An FPRAS for Two Terminal Reliability in Directed Acyclic Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)},
  pages =	{62:1--62:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-322-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{297},
  editor =	{Bringmann, Karl and Grohe, Martin and Puppis, Gabriele and Svensson, Ola},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.62},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-202057},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.62},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximate counting, Network reliability, Sampling algorithm}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.54
On the Mixing Time of Glauber Dynamics for the Hard-Core and Related Models on G(n,d/n)

Authors: Charilaos Efthymiou and Weiming Feng

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 261, 50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023)

Abstract
We study the single-site Glauber dynamics for the fugacity λ, Hard-Core model on the random graph G(n, d/n). We show that for the typical instances of the random graph G(n,d/n) and for fugacity λ < {d^d} / {(d-1)^(d+1)}, the mixing time of Glauber dynamics is n^{1 + O(1/log log n)}. Our result improves on the recent elegant algorithm in [Bezáková, Galanis, Goldberg and Štefankovič; ICALP'22]. The algorithm there is an MCMC-based sampling algorithm, but it is not the Glauber dynamics. Our algorithm here is simpler, as we use the classic Glauber dynamics. Furthermore, the bounds on mixing time we prove are smaller than those in Bezáková et al. paper, hence our algorithm is also faster. The main challenge in our proof is handling vertices with unbounded degrees. We provide stronger results with regard the spectral independence via branching values and show that the our Gibbs distributions satisfy the approximate tensorisation of the entropy. We conjecture that the bounds we have here are optimal for G(n,d/n). As corollary of our analysis for the Hard-Core model, we also get bounds on the mixing time of the Glauber dynamics for the Monomer-Dimer model on G(n,d/n). The bounds we get for this model are slightly better than those we have for the Hard-Core model
Cite as

Charilaos Efthymiou and Weiming Feng. On the Mixing Time of Glauber Dynamics for the Hard-Core and Related Models on G(n,d/n). In 50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 261, pp. 54:1-54:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{efthymiou_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.54,
  author =	{Efthymiou, Charilaos and Feng, Weiming},
  title =	{{On the Mixing Time of Glauber Dynamics for the Hard-Core and Related Models on G(n,d/n)}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2023)},
  pages =	{54:1--54:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-278-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{261},
  editor =	{Etessami, Kousha and Feige, Uriel and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.54},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-181064},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.54},
  annote =	{Keywords: spin-system, spin-glass, sparse random (hyper)graph, approximate sampling, efficient algorithm}
}
Document
RANDOM
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2022.25
Improved Bounds for Randomly Colouring Simple Hypergraphs

Authors: Weiming Feng, Heng Guo, and Jiaheng Wang

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 245, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2022)

Abstract
We study the problem of sampling almost uniform proper q-colourings in k-uniform simple hypergraphs with maximum degree Δ. For any δ > 0, if k ≥ 20(1+δ)/δ and q ≥ 100Δ^({2+δ}/{k-4/δ-4}), the running time of our algorithm is Õ(poly(Δ k)⋅ n^1.01), where n is the number of vertices. Our result requires fewer colours than previous results for general hypergraphs (Jain, Pham, and Vuong, 2021; He, Sun, and Wu, 2021), and does not require Ω(log n) colours unlike the work of Frieze and Anastos (2017).
Cite as

Weiming Feng, Heng Guo, and Jiaheng Wang. Improved Bounds for Randomly Colouring Simple Hypergraphs. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 245, pp. 25:1-25:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{feng_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2022.25,
  author =	{Feng, Weiming and Guo, Heng and Wang, Jiaheng},
  title =	{{Improved Bounds for Randomly Colouring Simple Hypergraphs}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2022)},
  pages =	{25:1--25:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-249-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{245},
  editor =	{Chakrabarti, Amit and Swamy, Chaitanya},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2022.25},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-171477},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2022.25},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximate counting, Markov chain, Mixing time, Hypergraph colouring}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2021.25
Dynamic Inference in Probabilistic Graphical Models

Authors: Weiming Feng, Kun He, Xiaoming Sun, and Yitong Yin

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 185, 12th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2021)

Abstract
Probabilistic graphical models, such as Markov random fields (MRFs), are useful for describing high-dimensional distributions in terms of local dependence structures. The {probabilistic inference} is a fundamental problem related to graphical models, and sampling is a main approach for the problem. In this paper, we study probabilistic inference problems when the graphical model itself is changing dynamically with time. Such dynamic inference problems arise naturally in today’s application, e.g. multivariate time-series data analysis and practical learning procedures. We give a dynamic algorithm for sampling-based probabilistic inferences in MRFs, where each dynamic update can change the underlying graph and all parameters of the MRF simultaneously, as long as the total amount of changes is bounded. More precisely, suppose that the MRF has n variables and polylogarithmic-bounded maximum degree, and N(n) independent samples are sufficient for the inference for a polynomial function N(⋅). Our algorithm dynamically maintains an answer to the inference problem using Õ(n N(n)) space cost, and Õ(N(n) + n) incremental time cost upon each update to the MRF, as long as the Dobrushin-Shlosman condition is satisfied by the MRFs. This well-known condition has long been used for guaranteeing the efficiency of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling in the traditional static setting. Compared to the static case, which requires Ω(n N(n)) time cost for redrawing all N(n) samples whenever the MRF changes, our dynamic algorithm gives a 𝛺^~(min{n, N(n)})-factor speedup. Our approach relies on a novel dynamic sampling technique, which transforms local Markov chains (a.k.a. single-site dynamics) to dynamic sampling algorithms, and an "algorithmic Lipschitz" condition that we establish for sampling from graphical models, namely, when the MRF changes by a small difference, samples can be modified to reflect the new distribution, with cost proportional to the difference on MRF.
Cite as

Weiming Feng, Kun He, Xiaoming Sun, and Yitong Yin. Dynamic Inference in Probabilistic Graphical Models. In 12th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 185, pp. 25:1-25:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{feng_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2021.25,
  author =	{Feng, Weiming and He, Kun and Sun, Xiaoming and Yin, Yitong},
  title =	{{Dynamic Inference in Probabilistic Graphical Models}},
  booktitle =	{12th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2021)},
  pages =	{25:1--25:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-177-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{185},
  editor =	{Lee, James R.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2021.25},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-135643},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2021.25},
  annote =	{Keywords: Dynamic inference, probabilistic graphical model, Gibbs sampling, Markov random filed}
}
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