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Theorem 5.5 -- the lazy walk on the torus mixes in order n2n^2n2

Proved
MarkovMixing.torus_mixing

by Shuze Chen · Aug 21, 2026 · Mathlib c5ea003 (Lean v4.30.0)

markov-chainsmixing-timesprobability

The ddd-dimensional discrete torus Znd\mathbb Z_n^dZnd​ is the graph whose vertices are the ddd-tuples of residues mod nnn, two vertices being adjacent when they agree in all coordinates but one and differ by ±1(modn)\pm1\pmod n±1(modn) there. The lazy random walk on it stays put with probability 12\tfrac1221​ and otherwise moves to a uniformly chosen neighbour; its stationary distribution is uniform. For a tolerance ε\varepsilonε, the mixing time tmix(ε)t_{\mathrm{mix}}(\varepsilon)tmix​(ε) is the first time ttt at which max⁡x∥Pt(x,⋅)−π∥TV≤ε\max_x\|P^t(x,\cdot)-\pi\|_{TV}\le\varepsilonmaxx​∥Pt(x,⋅)−π∥TV​≤ε, where ∥μ−ν∥TV=max⁡A∣μ(A)−ν(A)∣\|\mu-\nu\|_{TV}=\max_A|\mu(A)-\nu(A)|∥μ−ν∥TV​=maxA​∣μ(A)−ν(A)∣ is the total variation distance.

The theorem (Theorem 5.5 of Levin–Peres–Wilmer) asserts: for every dimension d≥1d\ge1d≥1 there is a constant c=c(d)>0c=c(d)>0c=c(d)>0, depending only on ddd, such that for every side length n≥2n\ge2n≥2 and every tolerance 0<ε≤120<\varepsilon\le\tfrac120<ε≤21​,

tmix(ε)  ≤  c n2 log⁡2ε−1.t_{\mathrm{mix}}(\varepsilon)\;\le\;c\,n^2\,\log_2\varepsilon^{-1}.tmix​(ε)≤cn2log2​ε−1.

The walk on the torus mixes in order n2n^2n2 steps, uniformly in the side length — proved in the book by a coordinatewise coupling.

Preamble
import Definitions.Def_mm_coupling
import Mathlib.Analysis.SpecialFunctions.Log.Base
Formal statement
namespace MarkovMixing

/-- **Theorem 5.5** (LPW): the lazy random walk on the `d`-dimensional torus
`ℤ_n^d` satisfies `t_mix(ε) ≤ c(d) n² log₂(ε⁻¹)` for a constant `c(d)`
depending only on the dimension `d`. -/
theorem torus_mixing (d : ℕ) (hd : 0 < d) :
    ∃ c : ℝ, 0 < c ∧ ∀ (n : ℕ) [NeZero n], 2 ≤ n → ∀ ε : ℝ, 0 < ε → ε ≤ 1 / 2 →
      (mixingTime (lazy (graphWalk (torusGraph d n)))
          (uniformDist (Fin d → ZMod n)) ε : ℝ) ≤
        c * n ^ 2 * Real.logb 2 ε⁻¹ := by
  sorry

end MarkovMixing
Source
D. A. Levin, Y. Peres, E. L. Wilmer, Markov Chains and Mixing Times, AMS 2009, https://documents.epfl.ch/groups/i/ip/ipg/www/2013-2014/Random_Walks/markovmixing.pdf, Section 5.3.2, Theorem 5.5, pp. 65-66
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What the Lean code literally says, in plain math · claude-fable-5

Fix a natural number ddd with d≥1d \ge 1d≥1 (the dimension; it is a hypothesis, so d=0d = 0d=0 is excluded). The theorem asserts: there exists a real constant c>0c > 0c>0 — a single constant that may depend on ddd but must work uniformly in everything quantified after it — such that for every natural number nnn that is nonzero (a typeclass hypothesis) and satisfies n≥2n \ge 2n≥2, and for every real ε\varepsilonε with 0<ε≤1/20 < \varepsilon \le 1/20<ε≤1/2, the following inequality holds. The state space is the ddd-dimensional discrete torus: the set of functions x:{0,…,d−1}→Z/nZx : \{0,\dots,d-1\} \to \mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}x:{0,…,d−1}→Z/nZ (so ndn^dnd states). Its graph structure declares x∼yx \sim yx∼y exactly when x≠yx \ne yx=y and there is a coordinate jjj with xi=yix_i = y_ixi​=yi​ for all i≠ji \ne ji=j and yj=xj+1y_j = x_j + 1yj​=xj​+1 or yj=xj−1y_j = x_j - 1yj​=xj​−1 in Z/nZ\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}Z/nZ (note that for n=2n = 2n=2 the two options coincide, so each vertex has exactly ddd neighbors rather than 2d2d2d). The simple random walk matrix WWW on this graph has W(x,y)=1/deg⁡(x)W(x,y) = 1/\deg(x)W(x,y)=1/deg(x) when x∼yx \sim yx∼y and 000 otherwise, and the chain considered is its lazy version P=12I+12WP = \tfrac12 I + \tfrac12 WP=21​I+21​W. The target distribution is the uniform distribution uuu assigning mass n−dn^{-d}n−d to every state. Total-variation distance is defined as dTV(μ,ν)=sup⁡A∣∑x∈Aμ(x)−∑x∈Aν(x)∣\mathrm{d_{TV}}(\mu,\nu) = \sup_{A} \big|\sum_{x \in A}\mu(x) - \sum_{x \in A}\nu(x)\big|dTV​(μ,ν)=supA​​∑x∈A​μ(x)−∑x∈A​ν(x)​, the supremum over all subsets AAA of the state space, and the worst-case distance to uuu at time ttt is d(t)=sup⁡xdTV(Pt(x,⋅), u)d(t) = \sup_x \mathrm{d_{TV}}\big(P^t(x,\cdot),\, u\big)d(t)=supx​dTV​(Pt(x,⋅),u), where Pt(x,⋅)P^t(x,\cdot)Pt(x,⋅) is row xxx of the ttt-th matrix power. The mixing time is

tmix(ε)  =  inf⁡{ t∈N:d(t)≤ε },t_{\mathrm{mix}}(\varepsilon) \;=\; \inf\{\, t \in \mathbb{N} : d(t) \le \varepsilon \,\},tmix​(ε)=inf{t∈N:d(t)≤ε},

with the convention that the infimum of an empty set of naturals is 000 — so if no time ttt ever achieved d(t)≤εd(t) \le \varepsilond(t)≤ε, the left-hand side would be 000 and the inequality would hold trivially; note also that this definition takes the infimum, not a least element, and does not by itself assert that d(t)≤εd(t) \le \varepsilond(t)≤ε at the infimum, nor that ddd is monotone. The asserted inequality is

tmix(ε)  ≤  c⋅n2⋅log⁡2 ⁣(ε−1),t_{\mathrm{mix}}(\varepsilon) \;\le\; c \cdot n^2 \cdot \log_2\!\big(\varepsilon^{-1}\big),tmix​(ε)≤c⋅n2⋅log2​(ε−1),

where the natural number tmix(ε)t_{\mathrm{mix}}(\varepsilon)tmix​(ε) is cast to a real, n2n^2n2 means the real cast of nnn squared (the bound grows with nnn but is independent of the dimension exponent — there is no ddd, log⁡n\log nlogn, or ndn^dnd factor on the right beyond what is absorbed into ccc), and log⁡2(ε−1)\log_2(\varepsilon^{-1})log2​(ε−1) is the base-222 logarithm of 1/ε1/\varepsilon1/ε, which is ≥1\ge 1≥1 under the hypothesis ε≤1/2\varepsilon \le 1/2ε≤1/2. Nothing further is asserted: the order of quantifiers is ∀d, ∃c, ∀n, ∀ε\forall d,\, \exists c,\, \forall n,\, \forall \varepsilon∀d,∃c,∀n,∀ε, so ccc may not depend on nnn or ε\varepsilonε, and the claim is only an upper bound (≤\le≤), with no matching lower bound.

Human review
  • Endorsed by Community (Bot) · Aug 21, 2026

  • Endorsed by Shuze Chen · Aug 21, 2026

    Confirmed by the mission captain (proposal self-audit).

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