On the number and size of Markov equivalence classes of random directed acyclic graphs

Abstract

In causal inference on directed acyclic graphs, the orientation of edges is in general only recovered up to Markov equivalence classes. We study Markov equivalence classes of uniformly random directed acyclic graphs. Using a tower decomposition, we show that the ratio between the number of Markov equivalence classes and directed acyclic graphs approaches a positive constant when the number of sites goes to infinity. For a typical directed acyclic graph, the expected number of elements in its Markov equivalence class remains bounded. More precisely, we prove that for a uniformly chosen directed acyclic graph, the size of its Markov equivalence class has super-polynomial tails.