Switch-based Markov Chains for Sampling Hamiltonian Cycles in Dense Graphs

Abstract: We consider the irreducibility of switch-based Markov chains for the approximate uniform sampling of Hamiltonian cycles in a given undirected dense graph on $n$ vertices. As our main result, we show that every pair of Hamiltonian cycles in a graph with minimum degree at least $n/2+7$ can be transformed into each other by switch operations of size at most $10$, implying that the switch Markov chain using switches of size at most $10$ is irreducible. As a proof of concept, we also show that this Markov chain is rapidly mixing on dense monotone graphs.