Winkler–Zuckerman blanket-time conjecture for finite graphs

From papers

Let GG be a finite graph with vertex set VV. For a starting vertex vVv\in V, write Ev\mathbb{E}_v for expectation for the simple random walk started at vv, and let the (1ϵ)(1-\epsilon)-approximate blanket time and the cover time of GG be defined in the usual way. Winkler–Zuckerman's conjecture. For each ϵ(0,1)\epsilon\in(0,1) there is a constant Kϵ<K_\epsilon<\infty such that

maxvVEv((1ϵ)-approximate blanket time of G)KϵmaxvVEv(cover time of G).\max_{v\in V}\mathbb{E}_v((1-\epsilon)\text{-approximate blanket time of }G)\leq K_\epsilon\cdot\max_{v\in V}\mathbb{E}_v(\text{cover time of }G).

This conjecture compares the approximate blanket time with the cover time uniformly over all finite graphs. It was later proved by Ding, Lee and Peres, so the statement is resolved.

Progress summary

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Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Natalia Jurga and Mike Todd, “Dynamical blanket times”, arXiv:2606.18926 (2026).

Additional references

2 papers in this index state this conjecture (2010–2026). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:1004.4371.

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