Random sampling of Latin squares via binary contingency tables and probabilistic divide-and-conquer

Abstract

We demonstrate a novel approach for the random sampling of Latin squares of order~$n$ via probabilistic divide-and-conquer. The algorithm divides the entries of the table modulo powers of $2$, and samples a corresponding binary contingency table at each level. The sampling distribution is based on the Boltzmann sampling heuristic, along with probabilistic divide-and-conquer.