Asymptotic statistics of cycles in surrogate-spatial permutations (Q2257996)

The authors consider an extension of \textit{W. J. Ewens}' measure [Theor. Population Biology 3, 87--112 (1972; Zbl 0245.92009)] on permutations by choosing the cycle weights to be asymptotically proportional to the degree of the symmetric group. One motivation is a natural approximation to spatial random permutations which was studied by \textit{V. Betz} and \textit{D. Ueltschi} [Probab. Theory Relat. Fields 149, No. 1--2, 191--222 (2011; Zbl 1226.82003)]. This model is called surrogate-spatial. It is proved that under the suitable limit both measures have the similar critical behavior of the cycle statistics characterized by the emergence of infinitely long cycles. By means of analytic tractability of the surrogate-spatial model, the authors are able to prove a number of results about the asymptotic distribution of the cycle lengths (both small and large) in the full range of subcritical, critical, and supercritical domains. In particular, they obtain a parametric ``phase transition'' from the Poisson-Dirichlet limiting distribution of ordered cycles to the occurrence of a single giant cycle in the supercritical regime.