Convergence Rates of Random Walk on Irreducible Representations of Finite Groups

Random walk on the set of irreducible representations of a finite group is investigated. For the symmetric and general linear groups, a sharp convergence rate bound is obtained and a cutoff phenomenon is proved. As related results, an asymptotic description of Plancherel measure of the finite general linear groups is given, and a connection of these random walks with the hidden subgroup problem of quantum computing is noted.