Rapid mixing of Swendsen-Wang and single-bond dynamics in two dimensions

Abstract: We prove that the spectral gap of the Swendsen-Wang dynamics for the random-cluster model on arbitrary graphs with m edges is bounded above by 16 m log m times the spectral gap of the single-bond (or heat-bath) dynamics. This and the corresponding lower bound imply that rapid mixing of these two dynamics is equivalent. Using the known lower bound on the spectral gap of the Swendsen-Wang dynamics for the two dimensional square lattice $Z_L^2$ of side length L at high temperatures and a result for the single-bond dynamics on dual graphs, we obtain rapid mixing of both dynamics on $\Z_L^2$ at all non-critical temperatures. In particular this implies, as far as we know, the first proof of rapid mixing of a classical Markov chain for the Ising model on $\Z_L^2$ at all temperatures.