Subexponential mixing for partition chains on grid-like graphs

Abstract: We consider the problem of generating uniformly random partitions of the vertex set of a graph such that every piece induces a connected subgraph. For the case where we want to have partitions with linearly many pieces of bounded size, we obtain approximate sampling algorithms based on Glauber dynamics which are fixed-parameter tractable with respect to the bandwidth of $G$, with simple-exponential dependence on the bandwidth. For example, for rectangles of constant or logarithmic width this gives polynomial-time sampling algorithms. More generally, this gives sub-exponential algorithms for bounded-degree graphs without large expander subgraphs (for example, we obtain $O(2^{\sqrt n})$ time algorithms for square grids). In the case where we instead want partitions with a small number of pieces of linear size, we show that Glauber dynamics can have exponential mixing time, even just for the case of 2 pieces, and even for 2-connected subgraphs of the grid with bounded bandwidth.