Likelihood Orders for some Random Walks on the Symmetric Group

Abstract

Several cycle lexicographical orders are found to describe the relative likelihood of elements of the random walks on the symmetric group generated by the conjugacy classes of transpositions, 3-cycles, and n-cycles. Spectral analysis finds sufficient time for the orders to hold. This partially answers a conjecture that the n-cycles are the least likely elements of the transposition walk on the symmetric group. A likelihood order contributes to understanding the total variation distance and separation distance for a random walk.