Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
For a random walk on a finite group, the distribution after n steps will converge, as n→∞, to the uniform distribution (under mild conditions). The asymptotic behaviour of such walks can be studied easily using standard Markov chain theory. But there are many natural problems about the non-asymptotic behaviour which have no simple solution in general. For example, what is
the time until a specified element is first visited?
the time until all element have been visited?
the time until the distribution approaches the uniform distribution?