Mixing times for random \(k\)-cycles and coalescence-fragmentation chains (Q651005)

Let \(\mathcal{S}_n\) be the permutation group on \(n\) elements, and consider a random walk on \(\mathcal{S}_n\), with step distribution uniform on \(k\)-cycles. The paper proves a well-known conjecture that the mixing time of this process is \((1/k)n\log n\), with threshold of width linear in \(n\).